
Class 

Book _ 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



From W. A. Duer, LL.D., President of Columbia College, 
New York. 

At the request of Mr. J. Orville Taylor, I have examined his 
work entitled " The District School," and am of opinion that, both 
from its design and execution, it well deserves the patronage of the 
public, and the special notice and perusal of those engaged or in- 
terested in promoting general education. 

W. A. Duer. 

Columbia College, 
New York, Sept. 25th, 1834 



.1 



From Charles King, Esq., Editor of" The New York American." 

Having read the sheets of the above work, I concur fully in what 
is said of it by President Duer. 

Charles King. 



From the Right Reverend Bishop Onderdonk, of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the State of New York, 

Mr. Taylor has done me the favour of putting into my hands a 
copy of his " District School." It being, however, at a period of 
more than ordinary pressure of official duty, I have been able to 
give it only a hasty and partial perusal. But I have been enabled 
to get such an insight into the nature and plan of the work as to 
satisfy me of its great value, and the probability of its being exten- 
sively useful to the important cause of general education. I there- 
fore cheerfully concur in the above recommendations. 

Bexjamik T, Owdekdomc. 
1 i 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



From Eliphalet JVott, D.D. LL.D., President of Union College, 
Schenectady. 

I know of no work so much wanted as the one Mr. Taylor has 
now furnished ; and from its design I think it admirably fitted to 
improve elementary education. 

Eliphalet Nott. 



From J. M. JMathexvs, D.D., Chancellor of the New York 
University. 

Mr. Taylor's work on District Schools contains much that should 
be read and pondered by parents and teachers. It is written in a 
clear, vigorous style, is well arranged, and may be considered a 
valuable acquisition to the cause of elementary education. 

J. M. Mathews. 



From William L. Stone, Esq., Editor of the "Commercial 
Advertiser." 

After an examination of the " District School," I fully and cheer- 
fully concur in the commendations bestowed above. 

William L. Stone. 



From Nathan Bangs, D.D., Editor of the " Christian Advo- 
cate, 1 " &c. 

I have looked over Mr. Taylor's book on the importance of a 
well-digested system of elementary education. I am much pleased 
with his general plan, and the observations on the specific duties, 
qualifications, and responsibilities of parents, teachers, and all who 
have the care of children and youth. I cannot, therefore, but hope, 
that his book may have an extensive circulation and be attentively 
read by all classes of our fellow-citizens, and more especially that 
his good design and plan of instruction may be particularly exem- 
plified in every section of our growing republic. 

N. Bangs. 

New York, Sept. 26th, 1834. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. Ill 

From Reverend William Parkinson, A.M., Pastor of the First 
Baptist Church, New York. 

Having long regretted the evident defects in the usual manage- 
ment of our common schools, I have been highly gratified in look- 
ing over, though but hastily, the sheets of a book now in the press, 
entitled " District School," by J. Orville Taylor. In this book, the 
defects alluded to, with their causes and consequences, are justly 
brought to view, arid the requisite changes, with their practicability 
and advantages, are explicitly stated and happily illustrated. So 
far, therefore, as I have had opportunity to examine Mr. Taylor's 
u District School," I cheerfully recommend it to the general read- 
ing and patronage of the American public, as a well-written work, 
and especially, to the careful attention of all parents, and of all 
teachers and trustees of schools, as, to them, peculiarly interesting 

and needful. 

William Parkinson. 

New York, Oct. 2d, 1834. 



From William J\L Price, Esq., IT. S. District Attorney. 

Mr. Taylor's " District School" is a book well adapted to the 
promotion of the desirable object which the writer has in view. 
I have great pleasure in commending this work to public pa- 
tronage. 

William M. Price. 

New- York, Oct. 8th, 1834. 



J. Orville Taylor has rendered the cause of education an invalua- 
ble service, by his work entitled " The District School." His 
doctrines are sound, and with a very few exceptions, in my opinion, 
the means suggested for carrying them into operation, must find 
favour with all reflecting minds. If our fellow-citizens universally 
regard, and put in practice the lessons he has taught with such 
simplicity and force, they will lay deep and sure the foundations 
of private happiness, and public security. I would respectfully 



IV RECOMMENDATIONS. 

commend the author, and his labours in this field of usefulness, to 
the notice of the governor, and the members of the legislature of 
Pennsylvania. 

ROBEIITS VaUX. 

Philadelphia, 2d mo. 5, 1835. 



If these principles be correct,— as every good citizen must admit 
they are, — then is this book, by Mr. J. 0. Taylor, of vast importance 
to our community. Its aim and design are to further the progress 
of national education, on the best principles, and in the best practi- 
cal manner. Its name, The District School, is humble and un- 
assuming. But it is peculiarly attractive. It is by the District 
School that the great mass of the people is to be illumined. Only 
let parents, teachers, and our legislators study this book, as it truly 
deserves to be studied, and a new impulse cannot fail to be given 
to our state and national education. And, thence, our republic 
will derive fresh nourishment, and strength, from the superior edu- 
cation of the rising generation. 

The object, therefore, of Mr. Taylor's book cannot be sufficiently 
applauded. And we do not hesitate emphatically to say, that he 
has done ample justice to it. It exhibits a master's view of the 
best mode of attaining the end proposed by our schools ; and a rich 
experience in the whole matter ; and it is expressed in a clear and 
forcible style. We therefore beg leave earnestly to recommend his 
book to every parent, to every teacher, and to every legislator and 
patriot who study the best interests of our common country. 

William C. Browxlee, D.D. 



" In teachers' seminaries, Taylor's ' District School' should be 
used as a reading-book, for the double purpose of improvement in 
reading the English language, and for becoming familiar with the 
most improved mode of instruction, and the best rules of school 
government." — Report of a Committee of the Regents of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York on the Education of Common 
School Teachers, Albany, 1835. 



DECOMMENDATIONS. V 

Paris, Dec. 30, 1834. 

Dear Sir, — I have just finished a perusal of the excellent book — 
" The District School" — you have had the kindness to send to me. 
Its subject is one of the very highest importance *, and you have 
treated it in a manner that evinces a close observation of the prac- 
tice, as well as a profound knowledge of the principles and theory 
on which it is founded : and your work is one of those which I 
think most calculated to produce extensive and permanent good. 

Edward Livingston, 

Letter to the author. Minister to France. 



RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PRESS. 

" We cannot bestow- higher praise upon the District School, 
than by expressing the opinion that the cause of education would 
be greatly promoted by its general diffusion, and that it ought to 
be in the hands of every parent and teacher in this wide republic. 
* * * * We have been so copious in our extracts, that our readers 
are now prepared to form their own judgment of the very Clevel- 
and useful work under consideration. It is with unfeigned plea- 
sure that we learn from the preface, that to the cause of education 
our author has consecrated his talents, his attainments, and his 
future life. The cause has gained much in acquiring so intelligent, 
skilful, and practical an advocate." — Monthly Journal of Educa- 
tion, Princeton. 

" We have looked over this volume with uncommon interest. 
It is full of good thoughts and useful suggestions, on the importance 
of common schools, to a country like ours ; on the defects which 
abound in them, and their sources ; and on the means of improving 
and elevating them. Nor is it the least commendation of the work, 
that it breathes throughout a truly Christian spirit. The style is 
simple, intelligible, and forcible." — American Annals of Education 
and Instruction, Boston. 

1* 



yi RECOMMENDATIONS. 

" The ' District School' is a volume of great value, both in its 
design and execution ; and we sincerely commend this volume to 
all who desire that national education should with us be a truth, 
and not a mere statutory provision, rendered nugatory, if not mis- 
chievous, by the manner in which it is executed." — New York 
American, Sept. 27. 

" This admirable volume, of which we have spoken before more 
than once, is now out, and we again commend it to general circu- 
lation."— New York American, Oct. 18, 1834. 

" One of the most important works that have come from the 
press is the duodecimo (336 pages) entitled the ; District School,' 
by J. Orville Taylor. The improvement of elementary education 
is the purpose of the author, and he has followed it out in all the 
proper details, with the ability of an intelligent and most zealous 
observer." — The National Gazette and Literary Register. 

" It is with sincere pleasure that we recommend the perusal of 
Mr. Taylor's book to parents, teachers, and especially to the trus- 
tees and superintendents of our schools. Every citizen should read 
it who values either the welfare of his own offspring, or the salva- 
tion of the republic." — New York Observer. 

" The object of the ' District School' is most important — to raise 
the character of the district school by explaining the difficult but 
most useful and honourable duties of the schoolmaster, and the 
relative responsibilities of teachers, pupils, and parents. The 
nature and bearings of moral education form a prominent feature 
in the work. Such a volume has been long needed." — The 
Churchman. 

" The ' District School' that we mentioned the other day is an 
admirable work on elementary education, and should be read by 
every parent and teacher in the Union." — Albany Daily Adver- 
tiser. 

" The ' District School,' by J Orville Taylor. — This is an in- 
structive work, and a delightful one, too. The author has a high 



RECOMMENDATIONS. Vll 

sense of the ludicrous, a keen eye for defects ; and he has observed 
so closely, and described so faithfully, that he has not only made 
an eminently useful book, but one full of amusement. The style 
is pure and perspicuous, and the thought always luminous, and 
frequently eloquent. * * * With the most useful instructions, the 
author constantly unites either amusement of anecdote or the charm 
of poetical style and thought." — The New York Mirror. 

" The style of the ' District School' is simple, intelligible, appro- 
priate, correct, and forcible ; and the author displays much ac- 
quaintance with the condition of common education. We regard 
the general circulation of this work as highly desirable, for it will 
carry to every reader a large amount of important truths, many 
sound views of education, and an incitement to exertion in its pro- 
motion, which must produce some good effects." — New York 
Daily Advertiser. 

" No work which we have seen appears to De so well calculated 
for extensive effect on our schools ; and it will be a public benefit 
to every state in the Union, if it is widely diffused and read in every 
town and village." — Daily Advertiser. 

" We ask that this book, by Mr. Taylor, may be read by parents 
— first, carefully read, and well digested ; and secondly, we recom- 
mend that every man and woman in this city may buy a copy 
thereof, and study it well. It is a duty that parents and teachers 
owe children and society." — The United States Gazette. 

" The ' District School.' — We most cheerfully recommend this 
book to our readers. It treats on the subject of elementary in- 
struction, such as should be imparted in our common schools. It 
comes recommended by President Duer, and other distinguished 
individuals ; but it is its own best recommendation, as it treats an 
important and deeply interesting subject with much ability, in a 
plain and forcible style." — Christian Advocate and Journal. 

" Among all the books, essays, and pamphlets that have recently 
appeared on this most important subject, we have seen none that 
appears to us to combine so much of good common sense with true 



Vill RECOMMENDATIONS. 

philosophy. The work is evidently the result of sound sense, much 
experience, and careful thought, and ought to he seriously read and 
studied by every parent and teacher throughout the Union." — 

Baptist Repository. 

" The ' District School.' — In this work Mr. Taylor displays great 
and accurate knowledge, and throws out a multitude of useful and 
judicious suggestions, in language singularly clear, succinct, and in- 
telligible. His book is calculated to do much good, and we should 
rejoice to know that it was extensively read and its' hints universally 
adopted." — The New York Times. 

" We perceive that Mr. Taylor's work comes before the world 
under the auspices of high authority, with a list of names appended 
which justify a most exalted opinion of its merit and capacity for 
usefulness, and a testimonial of still greater weight, if possible, in 
a Preface, written by one whose ability to judge there can be no 
question, and whose high character is such, that the fact of his 
taking so much interest in the work is both a high compliment 
and the best certificate of excellence." — New York Gazette and 
General Advertiser. 

" The < District School' is addressed to parents, teachers, and 
legislators. The work is evidently the result of experience and 
close observation, and contains many valuable hints on the subject 
of which it treats, which are worthy of the attention of all in 
any way connected with the business or having the direction of 
the system of common school education. It is highly recom- 
mended, and can scarcely fail to command attention." — Daily Al- 
bany Argus. 

" The writer of tne ' District School' appears to possess a full 
knowledge of the important subject of education ; and his remarks 
on the duties of parents, the qualification of teachers, school-disci- 
pline, the advantages of knowledge, &c, are distinguished by sound 
sense and weighty arguments. The style is pure and perspicuous, 
and the reasonings of the author eloquent and instructive." — Sa- 
turday Evening Post. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. IX 

" The highest praise is due to Mr. Taylor for the clearness and 
simplicity of his statements and reasonings : there is no parade of 
learning, no assumption of profundity ; but simply a plain and 
perfectly intelligible exposition of the thoughts and conclusions of 
a clear-headed man, who has taken pains to acquire knowledge of 
his subject." — Morning Courier and New York Enquirer. 

" We have looked into this volume with no ordinary interest. 
It enters into the subject of practical education with the spirit 
and intelligence of one deeply solicitous for the welfare of the 
rising generation. Whatever can add to their dignity, as moral 
and social beings, and to the happiness of their country, is re- 
garded by the author as claiming the attention of all those who 
have the direction of elementary instruction. His book appears 
to be the issue of a heartfelt concern for the improvement of our 
schools ; and from the practical acquaintance which he manifests, 
and the good feeling in which he writes, his volume, we think, 
should be in the library of every family where there are children 
to be educated, and in the hands of every teacher." — Providence 
Journal. 

" The subject ably discussed in the ' District School' is one of 
great importance to all — to parents, to children, to citizens as 
members of the community, and to the interest and stability of our 
republican government and institutions." — Southern Religious 
Telegraph. 

" The ' District School.' — The topics treated of in this volume 
are of vital importance; the style in which they are treated is 
familiar, and the book should be thoroughly examined by parents, 
teachers, and all who are interested in the cause of freedom and 
education." — Daily Atlas. 

" This is a work which recommends itself, and should be found 
in the hands of every person interested in the education of youth. 
The writer has indulged in no mysterious, metaphysical jargon. 
He has not committed the too common fault of stringing together 
words without meaning, nor attempted to lead the mind into the 



X RECOMMENDATIONS. 

visionary and boundless expanse of dreamy speculation ; nor yet, 
to talk learned nonsense to mystify a subject, requiring to be 
illustrated by plain common sense. Though strictly philosophi- 
cal, the positions assumed by Mr. Taylor are founded on the 
plainest facts, the correctness of which every intelligent mind will 
acknowledge without hesitation ; and the arguments by which 
they are sustained, and the conclusions arrived at, are so perfectly 
simple as not be mistaken, and so extremely forcible as to defy 
contradiction. The ' District School' is precisely what it pur- 
ports to be. It embraces every thing connected with the subject. 
It portrays the mind and character of a parent as it should be. 
It points out the mode of treatment indispensable, in order to 
make the infant mind the miniature resemblance of the well-cul- 
tivated and virtuous intellect of maturer years. It delineates the 
character and qualifications of the good teacher, and describes the 
manner in which he may rear up good scholars, and furnish 
society with good members. It also tells you of the opposite 
character, teaches you how to know him, and gives you the all- 
important reasons why you should avoid him. Nor is it the least 
important part of this work, that it imparts correct ideas of what 
should be the qualifications of school-committees, of the nature 
and extent of their important duties, of the high responsibility 
which rests upon them, and the manner in which they should 
discharge their trust. Finally, the ' District School' is a com- 
plete manual for parents, teachers, and school-committees ; and 
we hail it as a work well calculated to produce a most beneficial 
result in the work of education, so highly essential to the peace 
and happiness of our country, and the safety of her constitution." — 
Providence Republican Herald. 



The undersigned have examined, with peculiar satisfaction, a 
work entitled " The District School, by. J. Orville Taylor." The 
Work is not restricted to common schools, but treats of education 
upon a scale, which renders it equally instructive to all classes of 
citizens ; and in our opinion a most desirable aid to all who are 
charged in any way with the instruction of th« young. We are 
persuaded that the perusal of this treatise will work a reform in the 
prevailing systems of education. With this impression, we desire 



RECOMMENDATIONS. XI 

to see it in the hands of every person, who feels either a Christian 
or philanthropic interest in the rising generation. 

Signed, 

E. W. Baldwin, Pastor of Seventh Presbyterian Church, 
Geo. Benedict, Pastor of the Union Baptist Church, 
James Milnor, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, 
Gardiner Spring, D. D., Pastor of Brick Presbyterian Church. 
John N. McLeod, Pastor of the Second Asso. Ref. Presbyterian 

Church, 
H. G. Ludlow, Pastor of Eighth Presbyterian Church, 
War. R. Williams, Pastor of St. Philip's Church. 
Lot Jones, Rector of Church of Epiphany, 
Thomas De Witt, Pastor of Dutch Reformed Church, 
J. F. Schroeder, Rector of Trinity Church, 
Charles G. Somers, Pastor of South Baptist Church, 
John Woodbridge, Pastor of Bowery Presbyterian Church, 
Jacob Brodhead, D. D., Pastor of Broome-st. Dutch Reformed 

Church, 
D. Lansing, D. D., Pastor of Free Third Presbyterian Church, 
Theodore Wright, Pastor of African Church, 
Erskine Mason, Pastor of Bleecker-st. Presbyterian Church, 
Daniel Devinne, Methodist Episcopal, 
L. P. Bayard, Rector of St. Clement's Church, 
T. McElroy, Pastor of Scotch Presbyterian Church, 
Thomas Tyell, D. D., Rector of Christ Church, 
T. House Taylor, Rector of Grace Church, 
Gideon Lee, Ex-Mayor of the City of New York, 
Lambert Suydam, Alderman, 
Jeremiah Vanrenssellaer, M. D., 
Henry J. Anderson, Professor in Columbia College. 



THE 



DISTRICT SCHOOL; 



OR, 



NATIONAL EDUCATION 



BY J. ORVILLE TAYLOR, 

mOFESSOR OF TOPULAR EDUCATION IN THE NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 



Elementary schools bestow and sustain the nation's liberty. 



"The virtue of mankind, and the knowledge which invigorates that virtue 
and renders it more surely useful, are the greatest objects which benevo- 



lence can have in view." 



Dr. Brown. 



THE THIRD EDITION. 







PHILADELPHIA : 
CAREY, LEA, AND BLANCHARD. 



1835. 



L 6/015 

.lis- 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, 

By J. Orville Taylor, 

in the Office of the Clerk of the Southern District of New York. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON, 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE 

TO THE THIRD EDITION- 



In preparing for the press the third edition of 
the " District School/ 5 I considered its popularity 
to be such as to make it a duty for me to rewrite 
the whole work. This I have done, rejecting some 
parts, condensing others, and adding much that is 
valuable in the form of notes, taken from several 
able and recent writers on the subject of education. 
I have also made an addition of two entire new 
chapters, — No. VII. advocating seminaries for teach- 
ers, and No. XIX. urging the study of natural history 
in our common schools. I have likewise, from the 
advice of many intelligent friends, divided the book 
into paragraphs, that it may be used in schools as a 
reading class-book. Although three thousand copies 
of the District School have been sold in four months, 
it is sincerely hoped that the present improved 
edition will render the work still more acceptable 
and useful. 

The Author. 



New York, Oct. 1st, 1834. 
To Johx Duer, Esq.. 
Sir, 
Permit me to submit to your consideration the printed sheets of 
a work, which contains the results of some personal examination 
into our elementary schools. Should the work meet your approba- 
tion, suffer me to request you to confer a favour on the cause of 
general education, by contributing to the "District School" a short 
preface. Yours with high regard, 

J. Orville Taylor. 



Sir, — I have read your book with great pleasure ; if the enclosed 
remarks will meet your views, they are at your service. 
Yours with esteem, 

TOHN DUER. 



PREFACE. 

It is to parents, teachers, and legislators, that this 
work is addressed ; and on the minds of those who 
will read it with the necessary attention it cannot 
fail to make a most salutary impression. The title 
is modest and unpretending ; the style, though emi- 
nently clear and forcible, plain and unlaboured ; and 
the subjects of which it treats, and well and ably 
treats, are of the very highest importance, — far 
more important than the topics which are usually 
discussed in our halls of legislation, and which, 

dignified by the eloquence of statesmen, and exag- 
a 2 5 



6 PREFACE. 

gerated by the arts of popular declaimers, have 
sometimes fixed the attention, and agitated the pas- 
sions, of the whole community. 

The reflections of the author are evidently the 
combined result of learning, experience, and exten- 
sive and accurate observation ; and he writes with 
that earnest simplicity which is the never-failing 
proof of sincerity, and which, it may be hoped, will 
transfer to the minds of his readers a portion of his 
own generous and disinterested zeal, — his zeal in the 
cause of public improvement and general happiness, 
— the cause to which he has consecrated his talents, 
his attainments, and his future life. 

Entertaining this sense of the value of his work, 
I have felt it a duty to comply with the request of 
the author by contributing this brief preface ; nor 
have I been unwilling, I confess, to connect my 
name with a publication which, should its circulation 
be as extensive as it may, and ought to be, will mark 
an era in the history of public instruction. 

To enforce the duty and necessity of extending 
to all the benefits of education, in the full and true 
sense of the term, — to expose the defects of the 
system of primary instruction which now prevails, — 
and to suggest some of the appropriate remedies, 
is the design of the work. On some of the subor- 
dinate topics of discussion differences of opinion may, 
and will exist ; but all who are competent to judge, 
and will give their due attention to the facts which 
this book discloses, must unite in the conclusion, 
that our present system of popular education is radi- 
cally defective. 



PREFACE. 7 

It is on this point chiefly that the public mind 
requires to be disabused ; it is in relation to this that 
there exists — I speak especially of this state — a very 
general delusion. We are told that under the foster- 
ing patronage of the government, more than half a 
million of children are taught in our common schools, 
— our pride, as citizens of the Empire State, is grati- 
fied, and we content ourselves with the general state- 
ment, omitting to inquire into the character and 
value of the instruction which is thus imparted. 

We know not, for we care not to know, that it is 
in truth so imperfect and scanty as hardly to deserve 
the name even of elementary, — that it is unconnected 
with any thing resembling moral discipline or the 
formation of character, — that the teachers, inex- 
perienced, transitory, snatched up for the occasion, 
are paid by salaries which hardly exceed the wages 
of the menial servant or the common labourer, — 
and that, as a necessary consequence, ignorant and 
disqualified, they are perhaps even overpaid by the 
pittance which they receive. 

Yet it is in such schools and by such instructers 
that, thirty-eight out of forty of the children of the 
nation are, as we phrase it, educated. We have 
lived in a pleasing delusion ; but it is time we should 
awake. It is time that we should cease to boast of 
the superior intelligence of the American people, as 
compared with that of the population of the Old 
World ; we must no longer refer to our common 
schools as furnishing at once the evidence and ex- 
planation of the asserted fact It cannot be con- 
cealed, and ought not to be denied, that under one 



S PREFACE. 

of the most arbitrary governments of Europe, (des- 
potic in its form, but in its present administration 
most enlightened and paternal,) the children of all, 
even of the meanest peasant in the kingdom, are 
receiving, in their village and parish schools, more 
varied and solid, and in every sense, valuable in- 
struction, than any of our schools, I had almost said 
academies, are accustomed or competent to furnish ! 
The fact is certain : what reflections must it suggest 
to the minds of Americans who truly honour and 
love their country and its institutions !* 

It is to parents and teachers, as already stated, 
that the exhortations of the author are principally 
directed, and it is from their voluntary exertions 
that he expects that reform, the necessity of which 
he has so clearly established. Looking to the 
models of G ermany and France, no " system of 
public instruction" has yet been organized in any of 
the states, and in none has the appropriate work of 
legislation been more than commenced. 

I do not hesitate to avow the belief, that without 
regulations far more extensive than have yet been 
introduced, — a control far more enlightened and 
constant than has yet been exercised, — and fiscal aid 
far more ample than has yet been afforded, it is vain 

* The admirable report of M. Cousin to the French govern- 
ment, " On the State of Public Instruction in Prussia," the 
publication of which has excited so lively an interest in Europe 
as well as in France, has been lately translated by Mrs. Austin, 
the authoress of the very best translation in the English lan- 
guage, — that of "The Tour of a German Prince." This re- 
port, together with the admirable preface of Mrs. Austin, ought 
without delay to be republished in this country. 



PREFACE. 9 

to expect that the character of our common schools 
can be truly and permanently improved. It is con- 
ceded by all that nothing can be done without com- 
petent teachers, and such teachers, in the number 
and of the qualifications required, we can never have, 
unless they are properly trained, and properly ex- 
amined, and watched, and controlled, and, above all, 
properly rewarded. 

Neither the districts, nor the towns, generally 
speaking, are willing or even able to select or reward 
such teachers, and still less to prepare them for their 
functions, and direct them in their labours. If good 
is to be done, we must bring our minds as soon as 
possible to the confession of the truth, that the edu- 
cation of the people, to be effectual, must here as 
elsewhere, to a great extent, be the work of the 
state ; and that an expense, of which all should feel 
the necessity, and all will share the benefit, must, in 
a just proportion, be borne by all. 

It is true that the public mind must be prepared 
for legislative action, and the belief of the value of 
that education which alone merits the name, must 
be far more pervading and serious than it now 
is, before legislatures will have either the inclina- 
tion or the courage to act. 

The dissemination of this book, and of the truths 
which it contains, will tend thus to prepare the 
public mind, to produce the right state of feeling 
and of thought ; for assuredly it will not be read in 
vain by parents who are such in heart and in con- 
science, not in name merely. 

There are some truths which it may be painful to 



10 PREFACE. 

confess, yet are most necessary to be known. To 
the reflecting and the candid it will not seem ex- 
travagant to say that the chief source of the evils, 
the disorders, the crimes which afflict society, is to 
be found in the heartless indifference of the higher 
classes, the rich, the educated, the refined, towards 
the comfort and well-being of those they term or 
deem their inferiors, and their consequent neglect 
of the intellectual and moral improvement of those 
who always have been, and would seem by the order 
of Providence, always must be, the most numerous 
class — those who depend on their daily labour for 
their daily support. 

It is this neglect, the alienation it produces, the 
ignorance it perpetuates, the vices it fosters, which 
leave marked the broad line of separation, on the 
one side, of which are the few, indolent, disdainful, 
proud, on the other the many, restless, envious, dis- 
contented. It is this which keeps the minds of a 
multitude in a constant state of irritation, and which, 
when the base demagogue seeks to array the poor 
against the rich, collects the crowd of his willing 
auditors, and arms him with his dreaded power. 

It is this which caused the atrocities of the French 
Revolution, and which deepens and darkens the 
cloud that now hangs over England. It is this 
neglect — the grand crime of civilized and Christian 
society, which, in every country, sooner or later, 
and in none more certainly than in our own, if con- 
tinued, is destined to meet a fearful retribution. 
Here most emphatically is it true, that the people 
must be raised to the level of their rights and duties, 



PREFACE.. 11 

must be made the safe depositaries of the power 
which they possess, or in the history of other repub- 
lics we may read our own fate ; — first, lawless anar- 
chy — next, the calm which fear and the bayonet 
produce — the calm of military despotism. 

How then are these evils to be prevented ? — this 
fate to be averted ? I answer, all that is odious, all 
that is dangerous in the distinctions which the free 
acquisition and the lawful enjoyment of property 
must always create, will soon vanish, and all classes 
be united in the enduring bonds of sympathy and 
gratitude, when the rich (I include all who have the 
leisure or means to, bestow) shall understand and 
feel that it is their paramount duty to improve the 
physical and elevate the moral condition of their 
fellow-beings, or, to express nearly the whole in one 
word — to educate the poor. 

Let those on whom the burden ought to fall will- 
ingly assume — cheerfully sustain it, and there will 
be no further obstacle to the action of the legisla- 
ture, no further difficulty in organizing a system 
effectual, permanent, universal. All that has been 
done in Prussia, and is about to be done in France, 
may be done here, and neither the patriot, the phi- 
lanthropist, nor the Christian can desire more. 

J. D. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 

DUTIES OF PARENTS IN EDUCATING THEIR CHILDREN. 

These duties have been treated in too general a manner — 
The peculiar duties of those who educate their children in the 
district school have not been sufficiently enforced — These 
considered — The parent's first duty is self-examination — The 
parent is the natural instructer and guardian of the child — 
Parents neglect their children during the susceptible years of 
infancy — Children begin to act and learn from the first mo- 
ment of their existence — Parents do not notice the effect of 
their own example before infants — The mother may shape the 
character — Parents leave the education of their children too 
much w T ith the schoolmaster — They frequently have a bad 
government over their children at home — Difficult to govern 
such children — Parents should co-operate with the teacher — 
Supply his defects — Parents should continue their children's 
education after the school days are ended — This by giving 
them the means of knowledge — By example— By showing 
the pleasures and advantages of knowledge — The parent's 
happiness depends upon the education of his children — The 
child's happiness depends upon its education — The difference 
of early training makes the great difference among men — It is 
the parent's duty to his country to educate his children — It is 
his duty to society — If the parent does not educate his children 
the world will — Virtue and knowledge -need a teacher — If 
children are useful in after-life, it will be because they obtain- 
ed the power to be so while young, . . . . p. 25 

SECTION II. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 

The want of well qualified teachers in the United States — 
The number of common school teachers employed — Some of 
the deficiencies described — Ignorant of the studies which they 
teach — Ignorant of the nature and operations of the youthful 
mind — No preparation made for teaching — The profession 
made a temporary thing — In the first place, teachers should 
well consider the nature of their employment — Teachers 
should examine their acquirements — They should be good 
readers — The poor reading in our schools noticed — Instruc- 
B 13 



14 CONTENTS. 

tions in this art to teachers — The example of good reading in 
the teacher — Teachers should be good penmen — They should 
be ready and accurate in the science of Arithmetic— With 
Geography — Teachers should have a thorough knowledge of 
the Grammar and Philosophy of the English Language — 
They should be well versed in History — They should be able 
to impart knowledge to others — The inability of teachers, and 
all students, to tell what they know, or what they think they 
know — Our system of education deficient, in making men com- 
municate, or make a practical use of what they learn — The 
great necessity of the teacher's having this ability of impart- 
ing to others, . . . . . . p. 36 

SECTION III. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS, CONTINUED. 

A teacher should have a good moral character — He should 
govern himself — He should have a good judgment — A teacher 
should have an even, uniform temper — He should have deci- 
sion and firmness — He should be able to sympathize with his 
pupils — He should be able to discriminate character — He 
should be able to illustrate and simplify — He should teach as 
Nature teaches, 49 

SECTION IV. 

QUALIFICATION OF TEACHERS, CONCLUDED. 

A teacher should love his business — He should make his 
business his study and his profession — He should be patient 
and persevering — He should be able and disposed to overcome 
the various difficulties of his arduous profession — Several dif- 
ficulties described — A teacher should always appear pleasant 
and affectionate — He should be qualified to show his pupils 
the importance of knowledge, 60 

SECTION V. 

THE ADAPTATION AND IMPORTANCE OF COMMON SCHOOLS, AND 
THE DUTIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE A GENERAL SUPERINTEN- 
DENCE OVER THEM. 

The school system, adopted by the state of New York, re- 
commended — The wisdom of this system — The importance 
of good common or district schools — The neglect which learn- 
ed and leading men have given them — The claims of these 
schools upon the wise and wealthy — The good effects of ge- 
neral intelligence — The duties of inspectors — The lax man- 
ner in which they fulfil their duties — They should be more 
rigid — The duties of the trustees of common schools — The 



CONTENTS. 15 

manner they have performed their duties — The duties of com- 
missioners — The duties which ministers owe to common 
schools — The duties of every inhabitant of the district, p. 68 

SECTION VI. 

TEACHING SHOULD BE MADE A PROFESSION. 

The teacher's profession should be made as distinct as the 
lawyer's or the divine's — We should require professional 
knowledge in the teacher as well as in the preacher — Teach- 
ing is not made honourable because teachers have not prepar- 
ed themselves for their business — Teachers should avail them- 
selves of all the help they can obtain — It must be their high- 
est ambition to be good schoolmasters — In a profession there 
is a constant accumulation of experimental knowledge — In the 
art of teaching there is no instruction in the past — Teachers 
have not communicated with each other — If teaching was 
made a profession, teachers would sympathize with each other 
— They would feel that they had the honour of the profession 
to support — That the eyes of the world were on them — That 
they might be known and honoured — He could then compare 
himself with other teachers — Each teacher would receive a 
part of the respect which would be paid to the profession, . 80 

SECTION VII. 

SEMINARIES FOR TEACHERS. 

The necessity of securing a constant supply of well-trained 
schoolmasters — As is the master so is the school — The want of 
normal schools in the United States — "The state does noth- 
ing for education unless it educates the teachers" — The ne- 
cessary qualities of a schoolmaster — Training schoolmasters 
— The manner of supporting normal schools in Prussia — The 
object of teachers' seminaries — The studies pursued — The 
plan proposed by the state of New York for educating teach- 
ers — How to secure the services of teachers — The Prussian 
mode — The qualifications necessary to enter a normal school 
— Duties of the guardians of normal schools — An elementary 
department should be attached to even normal schools, . 85 

SECTION VIII. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OF A SCHOOL. 

The government of a school should be a constant moral 
discipline — The end and object of all government should be, 
to make men govern themselves — The teacher should labour to 
to make his pupils understand what is right and what is wrong, 
or the foundation of law — A teacher should govern his scho- 



16 CONTENTS. 

lars as rational, moral beings — The superiority of a government 
of reason — Punishment should always answer its end — Pun- 
ishments should not be inflicted before the school — Crimes 
which are common should be brought before the school — The 
teacher should show his scholars that he is acting under moral 
obligations — A teacher should have the same government over 
himself out of school, that he has in school — The govern- 
ment of a school should be regular and systematic — A teacher 
should not threaten or fret — A government should not be se- 
vere at one time and lax at another — The manners of children 
in school — The manners of the American people — The lan- 
guage of scholars, p. 94 

SECTION IX. 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS. 

The teacher is placed with the young and ignorant mind, 
which is to be instructed — Teachers do not feel the responsi- 
bility of their office — Their responsibility is increased by an 
original principle in children to imitate — The principle of imi- 
tation may be turned to a good account — Teachers are under a 
high responsibility, since to them parents have committed the 
education of their children — Society expects that teachers will 
make the children and youth social, honourable, and benevo- 
lent members — Teachers are responsible to their country for 
the manner in which they educate her youth — The responsi- 
bility of teachers is great, from the consideration that they 
will give character to future communities — The responsibility 
of teachers is seen, by reflecting, that the happiness of each 
scholar is, in a great measure, in the hands of the instructer 
— And lastly, how responsible are teachers, since their influ- 
ence will reach into the world " that is to come," . 104 

SECTION X. 

THE TEACHER'S COMPENSATION. 

The labours of a teacher are arduous and responsible — They 
are not well rewarded— There is no labour for which the Ame- 
rican people do not pay more than they do for Elementary 
Teaching — A young man cannot afford to expend one cent in 
preparing himself to teach a common school — The unwilling- 
ness of parents to pay an adequate compensation to qualified 
teachers — Parents do not perceive the bad effects of giving low 
wages to teachers — If parents would give higher wages, it 
would induce young men to qualify themselves for instruct- 
ing — It would be for the parent's interest to pay higher wages, 
and employ qualified teachers — In the first place, because it 



CONTENTS. 17 

would save tuition money — In the second place, because it 
would save their children's time — And in the third place, be- 
cause it would save parents much expense in Books, Paper, 
Maps, Slates, &c. — By employing a proper teacher parents 
would know that their children would be well educated — Chil- 
dren would then love the school — If parents would increase 
the teacher's wages, they would raise the character of the 
teacher's profession — Parents cannot receive the advantages 
of the School System unless they employ qualified teachers — 
And finally, to pay well qualified teachers is the only way for 
parents to increase the usefulness, and raise the character of 
district schools, ....... p. 114 

SECTION XI. 

A TEACHER SHOULD MAKE HIS SCHOOL PLEASANT. 

Children and youth are governed almost entirely by their 
feelings — A teacher must control and take advantage of this 
government — The influence of first impressions with those 
who are governed by feeling — The teacher must love his 
school if he would make it pleasant — He must create friend- 
ship and good-will among his scholars — The teacher can make 
his school pleasant by making the acquisition of knowledge 
the means of happiness — By giving his pupils timely and 
agreeable recreations — He may make his school pleasant by 
simplifying the studies, and by presenting his instructions in 
an attractive form — The teacher may make his school pleasant 
by getting the love and confidence of his scholars, . . 124 

SECTION XII. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING SPELLING AND READING. 

The early age when children begin to learn — They may 
learn the names of the letters as they learn the names of their 
playthings or associates — The early instructions of parents — 
The usual method of teaching the letters described — A better 
method suggested — Directions in teaching children the powers 
of letters — Its difficulty — The bad habit of not separating and 
pronouncing the syllables when the word is spelt — The error 
(in learning to spell) of correcting with the ear what belongs 
to the eye — A better method of teaching spelling — The evil 
of confining the children's attention for so long a time to mere 
words — The pupil should connect a meaning with words as 
soon as possible — The unsuitableness of the books which 
children use while learning to read — The bad effect of pro- 
nouncing words without affixing any meaning, and of reading 
what we do not understand — At present, the pupil reads to 
b 2 



18 CONTENTS- 

master the words, not to get knowledge — The reason of so 
much poor reading and speaking shown — Proper reading books 
recommended — Children should not read what they do not 
understand — The inability of the unlearned and learned to give 
a correct definition to the words in common use — The evil of 
this — The bad practice of reading with unnatural tones of 
voice — Teachers do not attend to articulation — Rules to pupils 
in a common school that they may learn to read well, p. 132 

SECTION XIII. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING WRITING. 

The universality of bad penmanship — The time and money 
wasted in learning to write — The usual but defective method 
of teaching writing described — The position of the pupil at the 
writing desk — The way in which the pen is held — Bad ink — 
Improper desks — The teacher attending to something else 
while the scholars are writing — The teacher's criticisms too 
general — The unfitness of the copies set — The advantages of 
writing a good hand — The child should commence writing at 
an early age — In their first lessons scholars should use the 
slate and pencil — The advantages of using the slate and pen- 
cil — Directions to the pupil when it begins to use the pen and 
writing book — The cause of bad ink — The natural position of 
the pupil, and the proper manner of holding the pen described — 
Pupils should make their pens — The hands should be kept 
pliable — Scholars should read writing more — They should 
practise writing without a copy-plate, .... 144 

SECTION XIV. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY. 

The study of Geography is very general, but not of much 
benefit, in the way it is now taught — Some of the defects in the 
present system of teaching Geography mentioned ; and first, 
scholars do not easily perceive, and in many cases never, the 
true figure and motions of the earth from its representation on 
the plain surfaces of Maps — There is a want of Globes — 
Secondly, the weak and limited minds of pupils are required 
to look over too much space, and at too many objects at once — 
Thirdly, scholars learn the definitions of the names of places, 
but do not form any idea of their situation and appearance — 
Fourthly, the representation of places and objects on the map, 
by marks, lines, and spaces, do not cause the child to conceive 
their true position, appearance, and location — Fifthly, there is 
too much said of dress, and fashions, and manners, and peo- 
ple ; the pupils think of persons rather than places — These evils 



CONTENTS. 1.9 

may receive a remedy — The child may commence the study 
of Geography when five or six years old — The inductive me- 
thod of teaching Geography explained, and strongly recom- 
mended — The several steps in the study mentioned — The 
symmetry which the study of Geography gives the mind — In- 
structions to teachers and learners of Geography, . p. 153 

SECTION XV. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC. 

Scholars obtain but little from arithmetic which is of any 
practical use — The reasons for this suggested — The first steps 
are not mastered — The examples in the book not practical — 
The rules are committed but not understood— The tables but 
partly learned — The disgust for the science — The«ums worked 
out by the teacher not understood by the scholars — The books 
deficient — Teachers do not bring enough of the business of the 
world into the school-room — Almost the first thing which the 
child notices is number — The arithmetical operations of the 
infant mind — The encouragement and direction which teachers 
should give to these operations — The assistance of visible, 
tangible signs — Prudence in the use of signs which represent 
abstract numbers — Directions in learning the tables — The ne- 
cessity of practical business sums from the teacher — The 
teacher should aim at rapidity of operation, and discipline of 
mind, .......... 165 

SECTION XVI. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING GRAMMAR^ 

The nature and use of grammar — The facts and phenomena 
upon which the grammar of a language is founded — The dis- 
tinctions between the several classes of words or parts of 
speech are clear and immutable — All have the opportunity of 
observing these facts and phenomena — The reasons for gram- 
mar being an important study to all — Grammar has been con- 
sidered difficult — Difficulties have arisen from the manner in 
which it is taught, not from the nature of the science — But 
few scholars are benefited by the study of grammar — The 
study has consisted in committing to memory and in guessing 
— A practical knowledge of the science is level with the ca- 
pacities of all — The deficiency of books — The rules and defini- 
tions not understood — Teachers are seldom good grammarians 
— A system of teaching grammar recommended which has been 
thoroughly tested — The importance of giving correct definitions 
to this science has never been sufficiently considered— The 
reason given for so much guessing in the parsing exercises— 



20 CONTENTS. 

The several parts of speech considered separately — Their 
various modifications — The ability which the pupil now has — 
Further directions in finishing the study of grammar, p. 175 

SECTION XVII. 

HISTORY SHOULD BE MADE A STUDY IN DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 

American youth neglect the history of their country — We 
know more of the history of other nations — Children and 
youth should study their country's history, and prize it as the 
'great register of civil rights and noble deeds — It would prepare 
them to act for the present and the future — Our history should 
be taught at home, and at school, and by the way-side — Some 
of the great events of our history alluded to — Who does not 
wish to acquaint himself with these 1 — The aid which history 
would give, 186 

SECTION XVIII. 

COMPOSITION SHOULD BE PRACTISED IN DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 

There is but little attention to composition in our common 
schools — To compose well is not made a necessary qualifica- 
tion in the teacher — Scholars dislike composition, and consider 
the art a mystery — Scholars make an improper choice of sub- 
jects for composition — They suppose that something entirely 
original must be written — In composition, scholars practise 
the harder to learn the easier — The bad influence of ill-direct- 
ed efforts and wrong instruction — The preventive of these evils 
— Directions to young writers — Composition should have a 
prominent place in our primary schools — The good effects of 
exercises in composition — The scholar's inability to commu- 
nicate his ideas — Composition not difficult — Directions to the 
teacher, ... 189 

SECTION XIX. 

NATURAL HISTORY. 

The study of Natural History neglected in our common 
schools — The farmer and mechanic unacquainted with nature 
and material objects — Ignorance of the simple truths of physi- 
ology — Of anatomy — Of Hygea — A text-book on philosophy 
wanted — Ignorance of geology and mineralogy — Of the vege- 
table kingdom — The want of a class-book on natural history 
in general — Vegetable improvability — The importance of the 
study of zoology, ornithology, &c. — The allurements of these 
studies — A knowledge of natural history useful to the farmer 
and mechanic — District cabinets and herbariums proposed, 
and the obligation to study nature enforced, . 11)5 



CONTENTS. 21 

SECTION XX. 

CONVENTIONS OF TEACHERS. 

Conventions may improve teachers and the systems of in- 
struction — Other classes of men and professions have their 
conventions — The utility of these conventions — Teachers' con- 
ventions may be made as useful — The teacher needs all the 
help he can get — The necessity of teachers' conventions — The 
object of conventions — The business that may he transacted 
before them — The mutual improvement of teachers — Means 
proposed at these conventions for improving the condition of 
the schools and the state of education — Means that may be 
used at these conventions for exciting an interest in primary 
schools, and of arousing the indifference of parents, p. 201 

SECTION XXI. 

THE LOCATION AND STRUCTURE OF SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

Our school-houses are among the worst specimens of archi- 
tecture — The reasons for this — The improper location of 
school-houses — The influence of such locations — The bad 
structure of school-houses — A proper location described — The 
teaching of outward objects, whether animate or inanimate 
— The size of a suitable school-house — Its proper structure — 
Suitable fixtures — The influence of unsuitable seats and desks 
— School-houses are poorly ventilated — The bad effects of im- 
pure air — The play-ground for the scholars — Wood-house — A 
suitable watering place, 207 

SECTION XXII. 

RHETORIC IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

The common belief that scholars must " learn how" to 
speak — The popularity of artificial systems of rhetoric — These 
do not give a good natural delivery — The universal practice 
of speaking in elementary schools — The effect of so much ar- 
tificial training — Objections against artificial schemes of rhe- 
toric — Notice of some ingenious and useful remarks from 
authors of artificial schemes — The different tones of voice 
which the same individual makes use of in conversation from 
those which he uses while reading — The effect of reading in 
these unnatural tones — The impressiveness of a natural man- 
ner — The sense should be thought of, and let nature suggest 
the manner — The natural manner does not consist in taking no 
pains at all — The difficulties of reading or speaking naturally, 
that is, according to the sense, the subject, the place, and the 
occasion — Under these artificial schemes, scholars are unfitted 
for instruction in elocution when they enter higher institutions 



22 CONTENTS. 

—Yet, we think it the duty of every elementary teacher to do 
all in his power to make his pupils good readers and speakers 

But he should not use art — Let nature teach — Teachers 

should begin with scholars when they learn their letters — The 
habits formed while learning to spell and read — Articulation 
— Let nothing be read but what is understood — Let the scho- 
lar withdrawals attention from himself, and enter into the 
feelings and thoughts of the author — Unsuitable pieces select- 
ed for declamation— Proper subjects for speaking pointed out 
— The advantages of a natural manner, . . . P- 214 

SECTION XXIII. 

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN COMMON SCHOOLS. . . . 223 



PART II. 
SECTION I. 

EVILS FROM IGNORANCE. 

The universal truths which history presents — The imagin- 
ary evils which ignorance has connected with the Laws of 
Nature — Eclipses, comets, judicial astrology, ignis-fatui, 
superstitious notions, spectres, ideal agencies, foolish and 
erroneous maxims, whimsical and false sayings — The 
prevalence of these, and their great evil — The cruelty and in- 
justice from ignorance — Evils which the ignorant bring upon 
themselves by not perceiving and conforming to the natural 
relations which exist between themselves and the objects around 
them — Evils from an improper and excessive use of the senses 
— The intellectual nature designed to govern the sensual — 
Evils from the government of the animal nature — Evils of 
the ignorance of muscular action — Evils from not perceiving 
the teachings of the Creator — Evils from the want of a moral 
and intellectual vision, ....... 236 

SECTION II. 

ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE, 

A comparison of the means of happiness between a literate 
and illiterate people — Knowledge, by showing the true princi- 
ples and nature of things, will prevent those evils which origi- 
nate in ignorance — The foundation of science — The favourable 
employment of the enlightened farmer — The ability of the in- 
telligent practical man — Knowledge makes men more skilful 



CONTENTS. 23 

in the arts — The advantage which the intelligent agriculturist 
has over his less informed neighbour — The necessity of a good 
education, that men may be profited by public instruction — 
The reason of so much indifference to useful knowledge — The 
instructions of the public — Knowledge would qualify men for 
judging correctly of human character and human happiness — 
The advantage of knowledge is seen by making a judicious 
selection of books — The enlightened man has the advantage 
of knowing what is transacting in the world — Knowledge 
would cause all, after an honest "examination, to see the evi- 
dence of revealed religion — Knowledge assists us in forming 
more enlarged and correct conceptions of the Deity — Know- 
ledge is necessary, likewise, that we may know in what true 
happiness consists, p. 244 

SECTION III. 

THE NECESSITY OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE IN A FREE 
GOVERNMENT. 

In a free government, the people should be intelligent enough 
to make their laws, and virtuous enough to obey them — Each 
individual's intelligence and virtue are the depository and de- 
fence of his liberty — Knowledge stands in the place of armies, 
revenues, and a throne — Knowledge is necessary to perceive 
the nature and value of literary and civil institutions — To 
know when justice is administered — Knowledge is necessary, 
for the people in the inferior courts are the judicial part of 
the government — Knowledge is necessary that the people 
may see the effect of crime and the justice of punishment — To 
distinguish between the particular and general effect of crime — 
The mischiefs of perjury and stealing considered, for illustra- 
tion — Knowledge is necessary that men who govern them- 
selves may see the agreement between civil and revealed law — 
To see the necessity of obeying the laws — To enable men to 
regulate their wants and claims to the wants and claims of 
others — Knowledge is necessary that all may see the wants 
of society for professional men — Knowledge is required that 
men may not be deceived by the errors of the press — And 
lastly, knowledge is necessary that all may know who are 
the enlightened and conscientious friends and supporters of 
their free institutions, 257 

SECTION IV. 

DUTIES WHICH WE OWE TO EACH OTHER. 

Society natural to man — Advantages of society — Some of 
the laws which the Creator has given man in society — The 



24 CONTENTS. 

duties of justice — We should be just towards the property of 
others — We should not interfere with the freedom of other's 
actions — Justice makes us respect the character and reputation 
of others — Justice requires us to exercise fairness in forming 
our opinions of others — Justice is to be exercised in judging 
of the statements of others — Justice enjoins us to respect the 
feelings and affections of others — Justice demands that we 
should be impartial in estimating the talents of others — And 
justice demands that we should not injure the moral princi- 
ples of others — The duty of veracity — It should make men 
faithful and critical in ascertaining facts — Scrupulous in stating 
them— And faithful in the fulfilment of promises— Benevo- 
lence, or the duties which consist in doing good — We should 
administer to each other's necessities — Our benevolence should 
be eager to relieve personal suffering — It is our duty to attend 
to the education of others — It is our duty to make men moral — 
Benevolence disposes us to be agreeable to our fellow-men — 
And lastly, in all our intercourse with men, we should endea- 
vour to make peace, P- 268 

SECTION V. 

PATRIOTIC DUTIES TO OUR COUNTRY. 

Nature has laid a foundation for distinct communities — The 
influence of knowledge and reason — The love of our country 
natural and a duty — Our first patriotic duty is the duty of obe- 
dience — That considered which gives moral and legal autho- 
rity — An objection to Blackstone's definition of law — The 
source of the laws in the United States — The origin of our 
government — It is a duty to respect those who are elected to 
civil offices — The third duty mentioned is, we should defend 
the laws and constitution of our country — We should not 
only obey, respect, and defend our country, but, in the fourth 
place, we should increase the means of public happiness in 
the nation — The citizen is to improve the laws — Caution in 
making innovation — The reason why men are apt to make 
changes under the name of reform — We may augment the 
happiness of our country by increasing its products — By open- 
ing new markets for its products — By facilitating the inter- 
course between districts — By the establishment of institutions 
of charity and instruction — By being able and disposed to 
correct the errors which exist in the system of government — 
By adapting the form of government to the condition and cha- 
racter of the people — And lastly, by making ourselves virtuous 
and intelligent, 283 



DISTRICT SCHOOL 



SECTION I. 

DUTIES OF PARENTS IN EDUCATING THEIR 
CHILDREN. 

" If children," says a writer in the Foreign Quarterly Review, 
(No. XXIV.,) "provided their own education, and could be sensi- 
ble of its importance to their happiness, it would be a ivant, and 
might be left to the natural demand and supply ; but as it is pro- 
vided by the parents, and paid for by those who do not profit by its 
results, it is a duty, and is therefore liable to be neglected." 

" Art. 43. Every inhabitant who cannot, or will not, cause the 
needful instruction to be given to his children at home, is bound to 
send them to school from the age of five years. 

" Art. 44. From that age no child shall omit going to school, nor 
absent himself from it for any length of time, unless under particu- 
lar circumstances, and with the consent of the civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities." — School Laivs of Paris, Part II. Title XII. 

There has been much said and written on the 
duties of parents ; and it is well that this subject has 
been so frequently and ably discussed, for there is 
none of greater importance. In what will now be 
said, there may be nothing new ; and I shall feel 
satisfied in bringing to notice some of the duties 
which the most have frequently felt and performed. 
Many of the duties of parents, respecting their chil- 
dren's education, have heretofore been treated in too 
general a manner. We need not only to be re- 
minded of our duties, but to be reminded of them in 
such a manner that we shall see and feel, and be as- 
sisted in doing them. Parents who educate their 
children in the district school have many duties pe- 
C 25 



26 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

culiar to themselves ; and they are such as have not 
been sufficiently enforced by former writers on this 
subject. It is my design to notice these more par- 
ticularly, and to suit my remarks to those parents 
who possess only the means of the district school 
for the education of their children. 

Many of these parents, not having been privileged 
with good schools, or leisure to attend such while 
they were young, do not so readily perceive the ad- 
vantages of knowledge, and consequently are apt to 
neglect a better provision for their children's educa- 
tion. To such, particularly, we hope that what will 
be said may be both acceptable and useful.* 

The first duty which parents owe to their children 
is self-examination. Are you what you wish your 
children to be ? Have you that evenness of temper, 
that government over your own heart, thoughts, and 
actions which you would like to see in your chil- 
dren ? Have you that justice, industry, and frugal- 
ity which you desire your children to possess ? Do 
you consider yourself at all times a proper example 
to your family ? 

Such questions, or similar ones, should you put 

* " Persons of uncultivated and torpid minds are not aware 
to what an extent education can raise, enlarge, and stimulate 
the understanding - ; in how great a measure it insures a per- 
son's happiness, and makes him both independent of the world, 
and a safe and peaceable member of society." Here and there 
we find an individual to whom strong- good sense and a lively 
curiosity reveal the magnitude of his want; but a man has 
already got beyond the first rudeness and apathy of ignorance 
who longs for knowledge. Are, then, the rudeness and apathy 
of the fathers a reason for transmitting them unaltered to the 
children 1 Or, to go higher, are the false notions, the useless 
acquirements, the imperfect instruction of the ill-educated 
of the wealthier sort, a reason that, because they are satisfied 
with themselves, an enlightened government should permit 
the same waste and destruction of moral and intellectual facul- 
ties to go on from generation to generation 1 — Foreign Quar- 
terly Review. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 27 

to yourself before you assume the responsible du- 
ties of forming the character of others. To educate 
your children, in the full sense of the term, is to 
form their characters^ — to give them a character 
which will last, not only through time, but in eternity. 

Parents are the natural guardians of their children. 
To you is committed the protection and education 
of those whom God has given you, and you will be 
accountable for the faithfulness or unfaithfulness in 
which you perform this duty. You have strong 
obligations and high duties to the community, to 
your country, and to your friends ; but much stronger 
and infinitely higher ones to yourselves, your chil- 
dren, and your Creator. Parents may receive liberty 
and protection from government, — they may receive 
comforts and emjoyments from society, but from 
these sources they can obtain but little aid in the 
primal education of their children. This is a work 
which belongs to themselves exclusively. 

But, from the supposed insensibility and incapa- 
city of the child during the three or four first years 
of its existence, parents often neglect the education, 
or the formation of the character, at that early but 
susceptible age. Many parents seem not to observe, 
that the infant commences an education from the 
first moment of its existence. They see not that 
every look from its mother, every notice from its 
father, every animate and inanimate object which 
attracts its attention, every sound and tone of voice, 
and family circumstance, are forming a character in 
the child, and giving some kind of an education, 
either good or bad, which will influence the after-life. 

Parents who do not perceive the wakeful atten- 
tion and deep susceptibilities of early childhood, are 
not careful of their conduct when before their off- 
spring, nor are they guarded in their expressions, 
and thus insensibly form a character in their chil- 
dren which after-instruction and good example will 



28 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

never change. Parents should know the capacities 
of their children ; — they should ascertain what pas- 
sion or propensity is acquiring undue strength, and 
how far the child is capable of receiving wholesome 
restraint and moral instruction. They should see 
that circumstances, apparently fortuitous, often have 
great influence, if not carefully watched and dili- 
gently counteracted. 

To the mother is committed the principal part 
of her children's education, till they are three or 
four years old. During this time she may stamp a 
character, which will remain through life. She may 
so moderate the passions, restrict the appetites, cor- 
rect the desires, and obtain so firm a government 
over the mind and affections of the child, as to form 
the most decided character. After the. child com- 
mences going to school, much of its time is spent 
with the parents. 

The duties of parents are relieved by the teacher 
but a short time. Their watchfulness and care, at 
this period, when the child is meeting with new 
companions, new modes of government, and an in- 
creased number of objects, should be greater than 
before. Even if the privilege of a school be enjoyed, 
the education of the children belongs, in a great de- 
gree, to the parents. By the parents it must be com- 
menced, carried forward, and completed. 

Parents leave the education of their children too 
much with the schoolmaster. You appear to think, 
that providing your offspring with food and clothing 
is all that is required of you : the education, the 
formation of the character, you say, belongs to the 
teacher. This cannot be so. Your example, com- 
panions, opinions, and expressions, will unite with 
the teacher's instructions. You should, instead of 
trusting all to the teacher, co-operate with him, unite 
your labours with his, and ascertain the influence 
of the teacher and the influence of the school. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 29 

Do not speak unfavourably of the teacher before 
your children, but teach them to love the instructer 
and the school-room, and at all times to be obedient. 
If your children are under a good government at 
home, it will greatly aid the teacher in managing 
them at school ; but, if the government at home is 
bad, it will be difficult for the instructer to control 
their conduct, or establish any government over 
them during the school hours. 

You often complain of the defective government 
of the teacher, yet do not perceive that the children 
at home are under no restraint. You, perhaps, have 
indulged them in every whim and desire ; subdued 
but few of their vicious inclinations ; suffered them 
to grow up disobedient and inattentive : and now, 
how can you expect the teacher to bring them under 
an orderly, respectful behaviour at school ? Do not 
find fault with the teacher till you have examined 
your own government, and ascertained how far you 
have fitted them for obeying or disobeying others. 

In your family government, during the stated 
times you may appoint for instructing your chil- 
dren, during the leisure moments you may get from 
your labours, in all your conversation and in your 
daily walk, you should unite with your influence 
and instruction in aiding the teacher of your school. 
Let the studies of your children while at school be 
their principal business. 

Do not send them to school one day, and keep 
them at home the next ;* do not divert their minds 
in any manner ; at all times feeling that their edu- 
cation is the greatest duty you owe to them. Co- 

* The regular attendance at the school shall be an object 
of special control and the most active vigilance ; for this is the 
source from which flow all the advantages the school can pro- 
duce. It would be very fortunate if parents and children were 
always willing of themselves to facilitate the measures adopted 
to secure regular attendance at the schools. — Cousin's Report 
c 2 



30 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

operate with the teacher of your school, by furnish- 
ing the children with suitable books, and an appro- 
priate school-room, well supplied with every neces- 
sary. 

If your teacher is not qualified, you should coun- 
teract his bad influence and supply his defects. You 
should often visit the school and see its condition, 
and examine the progress of the children. Ascer- 
tain for yourselves the real qualifications of the 
teacher and the government of his school, and do 
not trust to the accounts your children may give 
of either ; and, at all times, let the school have your 
attention and your aid. 

After your children have ended their school-days, 
you should still carry on their education. This you 
may do by providing them with periodical papers, 
with instructive and entertaining books, with the 
privileges of public lectures, and with your own ex- 
perience and intelligent conversation. Strive to 
give your children a taste for knowledge, a love of 
home and study, and a relish for intellectual and 
moral improvement. 

You should love knowledge yourself, and set a 
good example by the cultivation of your heart and 
mind. If you are not fond of reading, it is not 
likely that your children will be ; if you do not find 
pleasure in knowledge, your children will suppose 
it has no enjoyment for them. You should show 
them the necessity and the advantage of knowledge. 
Let them see the application of what they do know; 
and let there always be an increased desire to know 
more. 

Your own happiness may depend upon the educa- 
tion of your children. Why is it that so many 
young men consider home a burden ? Why do so 
many assemble in vicious places for amusement ? 
Why is company their ruin, and society a snare ? 
Because they have never been educated to the love 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 31 

of knowledge ; because they have no pleasure in 
the society of intelligent and virtuous men. 

If you wish to keep your children from the temp- 
tations of a wicked world, from its schools of iniquity 
and vice, opened in every place, let them have such 
an education that they will find pleasure in them- 
selves. Let them not be dependent for happiness 
on the gratification of their senses ; let them not be 
fitted only for the company of the ignorant and the 
corrupted. The reason why young men are so prone 
to low and grovelling pleasures, is, their minds are 
not cultivated. A taste for useful knowledge would 
exclude the taste for dissipation ; and the gratifica- 
tion of mind would be cheaper as well as happier. 

If children were taught to think, and assisted in 
discovering materials ftr thought, they would find 
a pleasure in the exercise of their rational faculties 
far superior to the gross pleasures of animal indul- 
gence. If your children were taught to enjoy this 
pleasure, and were furnished the means of obtaining 
it, with books of an interesting and useful character, 
and with sensible and rational conversation, — home 
would be rendered attractive, and there would be no 
necessity of roving abroad in search of something to 
amuse them. 

If they were trained to habits of reflection, they 
would not run into so many evils from mere thought- 
lessness. If they were taught the value of useful 
knowledge, they would not waste their time in the 
perusal of those works of fiction with which the 
world is flooded, and which are so dangerous in their 
tendency : dangerous from the erroneous views they 
give of real life, the corrupt sentiments they often 
contain, and the fascinating attractions with which 
they surround vice and crime. 

An expensive education is not necessary. It is 
such an education as you can give them in your dis- 
trict school, and at your own fire-side. If you will 



o2 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

begin early with your children, and teach them to 
think and inquire into the reason of things, you will 
find abundant means and materials within your reach 
for such mental cultivation as is here required. 

A child that grows up in ignorance and in vicious 
habits is not only helpless, but hopeless. A child 
that grows up intelligent and virtuous will not only 
be happy, but will render all so within his influence. 
How delightful it must be for parents to see their 
offspring learned, cheerful, and happy in themselves, 
and increasing the happiness of all with whom they 
have intercourse! 

But, how painful to see their children ignorant, 
dissipated, and wretched within themselves, and 
wherever they go, blasting the happiness of others ! 
They will be either the one or the other, in a great 
measure, according to the education you give them. 
Their characters are formed by education. There 
may be some natural difference in children, owing 
to a diversity of constitutional temperament ; but it 
is believed that difference of early training makes 
the great distinction observable in after-life. 

The Bible says, " Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
from it." And to the parent who neglects to fulfil 
this duty, Jehovah says, " Seeing thou hast forgotten 
the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children." 

The education of your children, likewise, is a duty 
to your country. You are under the strongest obli- 
gations to prepare your offspring for becoming intel- 
ligent, useful citizens. A freeman must be an intel- 
ligent man ; and this government, wise as it is, 
cannot make your children free, unless you first 
make them intelligent. You had better place your 
children in another land, where others will govern 
them, unless you prepare them for governing them- 
selves. 

But, as you intend them to be members of this 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 33 

republic, which is based on intelligence, sustained 
by intelligence, and looks to virtue and intelligence 
for its protection and safeguard, you are under the 
most solemn obligations, if you love your country 
and value its blessings, to make your children intel- 
ligent. To permit a son unable to read to go to the 
polls, is as great an injury as you can do your coun- 
try. It is, in fact, as far as his vote and influence 
go, as great a crime as you could commit towards 
these free institutions. 

In a despotic government, ignorance is the best 
quality in the people, but a free government demands 
virtue and intelligence ; it cannot prosper, it cannot 
eorist, without them. Then, if you desire the per- 
petuity of your liberties, the equal rights and privi- 
leges of these free institutions, and the honour and 
glory of your happy country, educate your children; 
fit them for enacting, administering, and obeying 
their own laws. Unless you do this, you are not 
your country's friend.* 

You are also bound, and bound by ties stronger 
than any other, to make your children happy. It 
is true, you love your children ; you wish them 
every blessing ; you would not see them suffer a 
single hour. Yes, you feel probably quite enough 
concerned as to what they shall eat, and what they 
shall drink, and wherewithal they shall be clothed. 
And it may be, that you feel sufficiently concerned 
to have them successful in the world, and prosperous 
in their temporal affairs. 

* The obligation of parents to send their children to school 
is of great antiquity in Prussia. The powerful and active 
superintendence exercised by the church over the education 
of the people, dates from the origin of protestantism, of which 
it is an inherent characteristic. It is evident that the authors 
of a revolution effected, in the name of liberty of conscience 
must necessarily labour at the emancipation of the popular 
mind, and the diffusion of knowledge, as the only secure means 
of defending their cause and rooting it in the minds of the 
people. — Cousin's Report. 



34 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

But food and clothing are not the extent of their 
wants. Neither will wealth or honour make them 
happy. Real enjoyment, true happiness, depend 
upon the mind ; and the mind is formed by educa- 
tion. Then, if you in the least neglect the cultiva- 
tion of their minds and hearts, you cannot act the 
part of affectionate parents. You wish your children 
to be the companions of the wise and good; but 
unless they are learned and moral, they will be unfit 
for such society. 

You wish them happy whether in prosperity or 
adversity ; then prepare them, by a proper educa- 
tion, to find happiness within themselves. It is 
exercising the mind, and placing the affections on 
things worthy of the immortal soul, that will give 
them satisfaction. It is not sensual gratification 
that makes man happy, it is thought and love. 

But you are not only to prepare your children 
for transacting the business of life, but to act upon 
and educate other immortal beings. Your children 
will have an influence upon others ; they are made 
for society, and cannot live alone : their influence 
will be felt by all with whom they have intercourse; 
even when they shall not aim at exerting an influ- 
ence upon others, it may not be less sensibly felt. 

If their minds are so formed that they can be 
happy in themselves, they will contribute to the 
happiness of others ; but if their education has been 
such as to render them incapable of enjoyment, they 
will be continually destroying the peace and com- 
fort of those around them; yes, they will frequently 
do it by design, in order to gratify their selfish feel- 
ings : and they will do it without design — for being 
wretched, sympathy will make others miserable 
also. 

If your children are trained up in the right way, 
they may do great good in the world ; but if not, 
they will destroy peace, and be promoters of discord 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 35 

and confusion. If you neglect their expanding 
minds, they may obtain in the schools of vice a 
quickness of intellect, a plausibility of address, and 
thus gain an influence over the inexperienced and 
unthinking, and become but too successful in seducing 
them far from the paths of virtue, and plunging them 
into the vortex of dissipation and vice ; thus blast- 
ing the hopes of many an affectionate parent, and 
bringing destruction upon their own souls for time 
and eternity. 

Such cases are common ; and they may be the 
cases of your own children if there is parental un- 
faithfulness. Your children, also, will be the edu- 
cators, the formers of the character of their children; 
and these again will educate those that follow after, 
till the good or evil consequences of what you are 
now doing shall spread far and wide, and go down 
to the end of time. No, the consequences will not 
stop there, — they will extend through eternity. How 
responsible your situation! 

There is another consideration which should make 
you prize every privilege, and do all in your power 
to educate your children: it is this, — if they are ever 
useful and happy in after-life, it will be because they 
obtained the power to be so when young. When 
they have reached manhood, the character is form- 
ed, the education is completed, and the man will 
continue, with scarcely an exception, what he 
then is. 

While your children are with you, under your 
government, they are laying the foundation of their 
future career ; and this foundation may be whatever 
you shall choose : if it is broad and deep, they may 
build upon it indefinitely; if '^ ' they will get 

no other. What you pr to be is their 

only preparation. In m hat manhood 

finds them when they le )f, the grave 

will find them when they th. 



36 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

SECTION II. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS. 

I know of nothing in which this government is 
so deficient as it is in well qualified teachers for her 
elementary schools. The two great things which 
are wanting in this country, are, competent teachers, 
and a disposition on the part of parents to pay such 
teachers a suitable compensation. I will speak of 
this disposition of parents in another place. The 
requisite qualifications of teachers are the subjects 
now before us. 

In the first place I will mention some of the de- 
ficiencies of common school-teachers ; and in the 
second place some of the qualifications which their 
office requires. I hope that I shall be excused for 
being plain ; the good of all demands that I should 
be so.* 

The people of the United States employ, annu- 
ally, at least eighty thousand common-school in- 
structed. There are in the twenty -four states not 
less than eighty thousand common schools, (we do 
not include the higher schools.) 

Among these eighty thousand teachers, but a very 

* The schoolmaster who, from indolence, carelessness, or 

bad disposition, neglects his occupation, instructs badly, or 

«es his power without discernment, shall be admonished first 

? inspector of the school, and then by the inspector of the 

he does not amend, he shall be reported to the 

cities, who, on sufficient evidence, shall im- 

• penalties, and according to the income 

-^ssive pecuniary fines, which shall 

school. If reprimands, threats, 

' his employment shall be 

taken 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 37 

few have made any preparation for their duties ; the 
most of them accidentally assume this office as a 
temporary employment. They seek it to fill up a 
vacant month or two, when they expect something 
else will offer far more lucrative and suitable to their 
wishes. 

Many teach for a short time, that they may ob- 
tain a little money to assist them in a higher course 
of studies which they have commenced ;* others 
make the business a mere stepping-stone to something 
which they consider far more honourable; and some 
become schoolmasters because their health will not 
sustain an exposure to out-door weather, or, what 
is more frequently the case, because they suppose 
the labours of a teacher are not as rough and ardu- 
ous as the winter-labours of a farm. 

Having become teachers from motives like these, 
they have not thought of the responsibilities of their 
office ; they see not the fearful and momentous re- 
lations which they hold to the immortal souls com- 
mitted to their care; and can they discharge their 
duties faithfully and conscientiously, when ignorant 
of what they are doing ? They intend to teach but 
a short time, and therefore care nothing about making 
improvements in their method of instruction, or of 
becoming better qualified for their business. 

They know that the unpleasant occupation will 
soon cease, and they do not wish to task their minds 
with it any more than is absolutely necessary. They 
probably have no love for the society of children, 
and in many cases have a decided dislike to any in- 
tercourse with them. They have associated with 

* The Germans give, as an instance of the low state of pri- 
mary education in Royal Saxony, (the case is very different 
in the dutchies,) that the places of schoolmasters are there 
commonly filled by mere candidates of theoiogy. In Scotland 
we should think this qualification very high. — Preface to 
Cousin's Report. D 



3S DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

children but little, and are ignorant of the manner 
in which they learn. They know not how to sym- 
pathize with children, or how to please or interest 
them ; and they hope soon to be free from their 
stupidity and vexation, and shun all present inter- 
course as much as possible. 

Many, not being able to discriminate between the 
different characters of their pupils, have one un- 
changing treatment for all : these meet with diffi- 
culties in pleasing the parents, or in governing the 
larger scholars, and then threaten, stamp, scold, and 
whip, and conclude by losing all government over 
themselves. They have no system, and nothing 
comes in the right time or place ; every thing is in 
confusion ; eight or ten noisy scholars vociferating 
for some privilege or information at the same time. 

This throws them into a passion, and they sputter 
about without accomplishing any thing, or producing 
any order. Their patience is soon lost, and the 
irritability of their temper is worked off on some 
unlucky urchin who happens to be in the direction 
of their wrath. 

What I have said is not from the imagination. I 
have seen many such scenes ; and so, either with 
high glee or trembling fear, has many a schcol-boy. 
Many, many instructers also are ignorant of what 
they are expected to teach ; they became teachers 
that they might learn, — not to teach others. Many 
take this office that they may acquire that know- 
ledge which they now begin to feel the want of, but 
which was regarded as useless when they idled away 
their school-days. 

They feel the necessity of becoming the learner; 
but to save the profession of ignorance, and the dis- 
grace of their advanced age, they assume the name 
and office of instructcr. Their labour to acquire 
knowledge prevents them from attending to the 
children. The teacher's attainments are suspected, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 39 

and being measured by the acquisitions of some of 
the more advanced scholars, they are frequently seen 
to suffer from the comparison ; this makes the 
teacher either embarrassed or arrogant, and there- 
fore impatient or techy. * 

These are some of the defects of many of our 
common school teachers. Much more might be said 
in the way of finding fault, but I have neither space 
nor inclination to pursue this unpleasant task. One 
mend-fault is worth ten find-faults, all the world 
over. I will now, in the second place, mention 
some of the qualifications which every teacher should 
have ; and from these, others, which I may not 
notice, may be inferred. 

In the first place, teachers should well consider 
the nature of their business. You are now acting 
upon mind — mind that is young and flexible. Your 
example, your opinions, your address, are to form 
in your pupils such characters as will make them 
either useful and happy, or useless and miserable. 
You are acting upon minds which will act upon 
other minds, and your whole influence will go to- 
wards the formation of the character of society. 
You should, then, consider well the nature of your 
business. You should examine yourselves, and see 
if you are prepared for an office at once so honour- 
able, influential, and responsible. 

It will be necessary for you to examine your ac- 
quirements, for you should thoroughly understand 
the branches you will be expected to teach.* The 
improvement of the scholars is your whole duty. 

* Let solidity, rather than extent, be aimed at in the course 
of instruction. The young- masters must know a few things 
fundamentally, rather than many thing's superficially. The 
steady continuous labour which must be gone thro ugh to 
know any thing, whatsoever, thoroughly, is an admirable dis- 
cipline for the mind. Besides, nothing is so prolific as one 
thing well known ; it is an excellent starting point for a 
thousand others. — Cousin's Report, 



40 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

You cannot, while an instructer, attend to the im- 
provement of yourself, especially in those branches 
of knowledge which you are teaching your scholars. 
You cannot give what you have not ; and you will 
not be able to teach others; unless you have first 
learned yourself. Before you commence the duties 
of instructing, you should have a thorough know- 
ledge of the studies usually pursued in common 
schools. 

You should be a good reader. The grace, 
beauty, and expression of this art cannot be taught 
by oratorical rules, nor by the machinery of punc- 
tuation. The feeling, and the force of reading, your 
pupils must learn from your example. By reading 
with that tone of voice which the sentiment de- 
mands, and with correct emphasis, you will be able 
to make a passage intelligible to your younger pupils, 
which you could not do by verbal definition or in- 
genious illustration. 

To read well, is to produce ail the effect the sen- 
timent is capable of doing. It is not, as many 
teachers would lead their scholars to suppose, the 
punctilious observance of pauses, the certain rise and 
fall of voice at the commencement and termination 
of every period, the continuous loud explosions of 
the high tones, or all these, that make agreeable or 
affecting reading. Yet we would think that many 
teachers supposed it was, from the manner they 
permit or teach their scholars to read. 

How many disagreeable, powerless readers, either 
from the carelessness or the ignorance of teachers! 
Teachers should perceive that punctuation is entirely 
artificial, and that it is impossible for it to graduate 
the reading as the sense would direct. You should 
practically believe, that nothing can make your 
scholars read well but a full understanding, and a 
deep, adequate feeling, of what they utter. You 
should be able to convince them of this by your own 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 41 

correct, impressive reading. By your own reading, 
compel their minds to know, and believe, that a 
book has ideas, — that it contains something which 
they do not know, but which they may comprehend, 
and make their own. 

Your scholars, from the manner they are taught, 
suppose that reading well consists in nothing else 
than in correctness and facility in pronouncing words. 
The meaning they do not get themselves, nor do 
they pretend to give it to others. Now, you should 
correct this ; you should read as if your mind saw 
something, and as if you wished to show it to them — 
as if their minds were to attend to the thought, and 
not to the words, and stops, and manner. 

Show them that the same sentiment may produce 
a variety of dissimilar ideas and feelings, according 
to the way in which it is read ; and at all times, pro- 
duce in them the conviction that good reading is to 
make the hearers feel and perceive all that the 
author felt and perceived. Now, unless you read 
well yourself, you will not be able to teach your 
pupils to read in this manner. 

If you read with an unnatural tone, with false 
emphasis and cadence, without distinct articulation, 
without intending to communicate any meaning, or 
with bad pronunciation, or with hesitation, or stam- 
mering, or indistinct rapidity, or in a careless, awk- 
ward position and manner, your scholars will do the 
same: and on the other hand, if you read with grace, 
with feeling, with intelligence, and with a voice 
pitched in harmony with the sense, your scholars 
will be likely to read in the same style. 

After all your instruction, and with the help of all 
the rules they can learn, your pupils will be sure to 
get into bad habits, unless your own example of good 
reading prevents them. I would say it then, again, 
let every teacher be a good reader. 

I have dwelt at some length on this qualification 
i) 2 



42 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

in a teacher, from its vast importance. A child, or 
a youth, is liable at all times to be called upon to 
read ; it is a little service, which all in good courtesy 
expect from each other, and we may be asked to 
render it by the family fireside, or in the drawing- 
room; in the private circle, or at the public meeting; 
at all times, and in every variety of circumstances ; 
now, to amuse the cheerful, and now to instruct the 
thoughtful; now, before the learned, and now before 
the unlearned. Then, let what is always expected, 
and may be called for at any time, have every at- 
tention from the teacher, and the highest regard from 
the scholar. 

A teacher should be a good penman. He should 
write a round, smooth, free hand, yet one that is 
bold and rapid. You may compel the scholars to 
hold the pen correctly — you may keep them in a 
proper position — you may enforce a good degree of 
attention to their pen and marks ; but after all this, 
unless you can present them a good copy for imita- 
tion, your labours will be in vain. It is not by being 
told what is good, but it is by seeing it, that will 
make scholars improve in writing ; or in almost 
any thing else. Then, to be a teacher, you should 
be a good penman, and know how to make others 
excel you. 

You should be ready and accurate in the science 
of arithmetic. Your ability to make the scholars 
perform the most obvious examples, or understand 
the most simple rule, will be in proportion to the 
knowledge you have of the whole science. You can- 
not be an instructive teacher, one that will make the 
thing simple and easy, except you have studied the 
science sufficiently to see something of its nature and 
application. In the science of numbers and quantity, 
each step teaches and illustrates the succeeding step. 

A man should be a good arithmetician to be a good 
teacher even in the simple rule of addition. You 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 43 

should be so familiar with this science, that you will 
know how the mind acquires this knowledge. You 
should be able to perceive at once, whether or not 
the pupil understands the rules of the book, or your 
own instructions. You should know when the pupil 
can help himself, and also when he needs help. 

You should be able to show the reasons for the 
rules ; and, what is of the utmost importance, to be 
able to make a practical use of the knowledge that 
is obtained from the book, and the examples, which 
are done out in the school-room. You should be 
able to bring the business of the active world into 
the exercises of the school, and make the children 
apply their rules and knowledge to this practical 
work. Let your pupils carry the same arithmetic 
into the transactions of life that they used in the 
school-room. 

Do not let them be obliged (as they are in many 
cases at present) to learn a practical science of num- 
bers, after they have uselessly spent years in trying 
to understand that of the school-room. If you have a 
thorough knowledge of arithmetic, you can make the 
science easy and practical to your pupils ; but if you 
are ignorant of the science, the study of it will be 
unpleasant and unintelligible to those under your 
direction. 

You should be familiar with geography. The 
usual manner of pursuing this study is this : the 
teacher takes the book or the map in his hand, and 
hears the pupil recite that which has just been com- 
mitted to memory, without annexing any remarks, 
to assist the scholar in forming a true conception of 
the object or place which the lesson has described. 
From the want of proper direction and suitable il- 
lustrations, the pupil does not understand the nature 
of the study, and consequently makes it a mere reci- 
tation from the memory, as if it was moral or intel- 
lectual knowledge. 



44 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

The teacher should be able to show the use of 
maps, and the mode in which they represent the 
earth and its various divisions, natural and artificial. 
You should be qualified to teach the pupils the art 
of drawing maps, in an easy, attractive manner. You 
should be familiar with every part of the study, so 
that you may direct the pupil's search after any place 
without the least hesitation. 

It is frequently the case that teachers, from being 
strangers to the study, spend a large portion of their 
school hours in finding places for the class in geo- 
graphy; and not being successful in their blind search, 
they are obliged to cover their ignorance by saying, 
that " the place is not put down on the map." 

You should be so well acquainted with this de- 
lightful branch of knowledge, as to be able to give 
every part that charm and interest to the young and 
inquiring mind, which will urge it on with an in- 
creased desire and application. If you are well ac- 
quainted with geography, this may be done ; and 
unless you are, learning it is your duty, not teach- 
ing it ; and it is not a proper time to learn when 
you are expected to instruct. 

You should have a thorough knowledge of the 
grammar and philosophy of the English language. 
This science is miserably taught in our district schools, 
and one principal reason is, a large number of the 
teachers know but little or nothing about it ; or, at 
least, about the best method of teaching it. Your 
pupils usually have a great dislike to grammar, for 
they see neither sense nor rhyme in it. 

You require them to commit to memory a set of 
words which are entirely new to them, — a string of 
technical terms, which neither yourself nor the book 
defines ; and this is usually the amount of knowledge 
which the pupils obtain. The time that is uselessly 
spent in the study of grammar is long and tedious. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 45 

The benefit which the scholars derive is nothing, or 
next to nothing. 

The whole of this evil arises from the teacher's 
ignorance of the science, or from his bad method of 
teaching it. Now every teacher should readily and 
correctly see the facts and phenomena of the lan- 
guage ; he should understand its genius and philoso- 
phy, and be intimate with its forms and constructions. 
There are rules and principles in this science, which 
are fixed and simple ; and these the teacher should 
perceive distinctly, and be able to apply them to 
whatever form the language may present. 

The most simple parts of this science should be 
taught first ; such as the definitions of the several 
parts of speech. These definitions the teacher must 
be able to simplify and vary, so as to make them in- 
telligible to the scholars. You should ascertain 
whether they understand them, by requiring the 
pupils to pick out the thing denned, by the aid of 
the definition. 

That a teacher should be a good grammarian is 
of the utmost importance ; for we should value that 
most which we have the most frequent occasion to 
use. And what is there that we employ so often as 
language ? All must use it. It is the great instru- 
ment by which mind acts upon mind; and this action 
will be faithful or unfaithful, weak or powerful, ac- 
cording to the perfection or imperfection of this 
instrument. 

What part of human learning can there be, then, so 
desirable as a thorough knowledge of this instrument 
by which mind acts upon mind, that we may at all 
times make the best possible use of it. Teachers 
should make the grammar of the language an inte- 
resting and important study ; but before they can do 
this, they must be well versed in it themselves. 
Again, then, we would say, that a knowledge of 
grammar, an acquaintance with the philosophy of the 



46 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

language, and the ability to teach it, are essential 
qualifications in a teacher. 

Teachers should likewise be well versed in history, 
especially that of the United States. This will quali- 
fy you to select such parts as will be useful to the 
scholars, and to present to their minds the importance 
of the subject. If you are pleased and familiar with 
history, you make it an intensely interesting study 
in your school. Every American youth should 
know the history and present condition of his coun- 
try ; but more especially should every teacher of 
American youth.* 

But you may be well acquainted with these branch- 
es, and yet not prepared to teach. There are many 
things absolutely necessary for a teacher besides 
knowledge. To teach is to impart knowledge to 
others ; and you need the power of imparting as 
much as you do the knowledge itself. A teacher 
should be able to communicate his ideas to others 
with ease and perspicuity. Your success will de- 
pend in a great measure on this power ; if you have 
it not, all the learning of the ancients and moderns 
will not fit you for a teacher. 

Yet you should remember that this faculty of 
communicating to others what we know is mostly 
an acquired one, and may be had, to a great degree, 
by all who seek it. This qualification, which is of 
such immense importance, is possessed but by a very 
few teachers. There are many more of those who 
have the necessary knowledge, than of those who 
have the capabilities to teach it. 

The power of telling what they have heard or have 

* The common school teacher should also be well acquaint- 
ed with drawing-, book-keeping - , geometry, trigonometry, men- 
suration, and surveying-; natural philosophy, and the elements 
of astronomy ; chemistry, and mineralogy ; the constitution of 
the United States, the duties of public officers, and moral and 
intellectual philosophy. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 47 

been reading, the faculty of communicating their 
ideas to others in an easy, clear, perspicuous manner, 
but very few have, whether educated in the district 
school, the college, or the professional seminary. 
This great defect (worse, I was about to say, than 
ignorance itself, for it makes us assume the appear- 
ance of being very learned, when in reality we can 
think or tell but very little) proceeds from the bad 
systems of instruction. 

Teachers, with other students, are made mere 
reservoirs, into which a little learning is poured, 
but from which there is no outlet; or if ther"e should 
be one, it is not a pure flowing stream, but an ill- 
seeming, struggling leak. The little that oozes out 
is a disgrace to the fountain, and a disappointment 
to reasonable expectations. We should make the 
knowledge which we merely look at, and pass by, 
a part of our own minds; it should be incorporated 
with, and become a part of our intellectual existence. 

Then, if we have the organs of speech, and a 
motive, there will be neither hesitation, nor stam- 
mering, nor circumlocution, nor words without 
meaning. If we have an idea, we can impart it. 
We deceive ourselves when we apologize for our 
faulty expressions, by saying, " I know well enough, 
but I can't tell it." The fact is, we do not know; 
if we did, there never would be an occasion for such 
an apology. Now it will not do for teachers to 
make this confession to their pupils, and therefore 
they are obliged to say something ; but you should 
know that it is easy to talk about every thing and 
yet say nothing. 

There is no class of men in society who need 
this faculty of communicating knowledge so much 
as teachers ; especially common school teachers. 
They are acting upon minds which are extremely 
limited ; having but a very few ideas, and almost 
entirely unacquainted with the relations of things. 



48 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

They cannot get the meaning by hints, and infer- 
ences, and equivocal, half-expressions, as more ma- 
ture minds may do by close attention, and with some 
knowledge of the speaker's phraseology. 

No, you must speak the whole of it to children, 
with nothing more nor less, and in their own idiom. 
In an audience of children, you have not intelli- 
gent minds to supply the ivant of intelligence; 
all that is perceived by them must be contained 
in the teacher's communication. It will now be 
acknowledged that teachers, more than any other 
class of men, need the faculty of transferring into 
other minds what may be worthy of existing in their 
own. 

A teacher should make it his unceasing study to 
acquire this power. He may obtain it by practice. 
If he will arrange his ideas, and connect them with 
proper words, and frequently express them, he will 
soon acquire the ability. And it will make a new 
man of any one ; he will then feel and know his 
strength* 

* Says Francis Leiber, LL.D., in his Girard Report, — a 
work of great merit, and one that shows this distinguished 
gentleman to be well acquainted with the principles and prac- 
tice of education, — "We speak a hundred times before we 
write once, and though exercises, which perfect us in writing 
correctly and tastefully, cultivate also, in a degree, our speak- 
ing, yet there remains a vast difference between the free and 
cultivated use of the ' breathing word,' and that of the pen ; 
it has, therefore, always appeared to me, that the art of speak- 
ing well, not only on solemn occasions, by way of oratory, 
but on all the many occasions created by the intercourse of 
men, ought to form a predominant object in every sound edu- 
cation. 

" A person may write correctly and concisely, may express 
his ideas in a perspicuous and pleasing order on paper, and 
yet be unfit to relate properly even a short anecdote. That 
this art of speaking well is important every where, will be 
denied by no one, as soon as attention is directed to the 
subject; but in a country like ours, where so much business 
is transacted, so many affairs are treated in an oral way, it 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 49 

SECTION III. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS CONTINUED. 

A teacher, besides possessing the requisite at- 
tainments, and the ability of communicating them 
to others, should have a good moral character. 
His morals will be the standard by which the 

becomes peculiarly important. It would be the soundest, and 
in my opinion, the only preparation for the art of debating, 
and rhetoric in general. 

" In Asia the art of relating is actually taught, and we ought 
not to hesitate to adopt whatever is good, even from that 
quarter. So much is the art neglected with Europeans and 
their descendants, that I find in the regulations of a large 
orphan asylum in Berlin, the prescription, that the boys should 
be taught to do errands well. 

" Strange as this may seem, who has not had manifold op- 
portunities of observing that even this low degree of the art 
of expressing is rarely well understood 1 Were the art of 
expressing ourselves generally considered as indispensable, it 
would not have been necessary to single out this humble part 
of it. Let us observe, farther, how few persons are able to 
relate clearly and agreeably a simple incident, or every-day 
occurrence, to converse well, to give testimony in a court, &c. 

" I have given my views on this subject fully, in an article 
on conversation, which I wrote for the Encyclopedia Ameri- 
cans. As a good handwriting is accessary, but not unessen- 
tial to the act of expressing ourselves in writing, so is a correct 
and pleasing pronunciation, and a well modulated voice no 
unimportant accessary to the art of expressing ourselves 
orally : in fact, however desirable a good handwriting may 
be, and I consider it of no mean importance, a fine enunciation 
is more so. 

" Social intercourse has, in the natural course of civiliza- 
tion, become an important ingredient of our whole life, and 
social life consists chiefly in oral communication. Should we 
not cultivate this main basis of intercourse 1 A proper educa- 
tion in this branch must begin quite early ; it ought indeed 
to be one of the first subjects of education. 

E 



50 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

scholars will compare and regulate theirs. His con- 
duct and deportment will be constantly before them; 
and from the respect he ought to have from his pu- 
pils, his life will be the model which they will imi- 
tate. The teacher's sentiments, opinions, and even 
manners, will insensibly become the sentiments, 
opinions, and manners of the scholars. They will 
feel a full license to do whatever the teacher does. 

His actions will be appealed to as a justification 
of their own ; and whatever the teacher considers 
right or wrong, will be considered as right or wrong 
by the scholars. The teacher's actions are under 
the eye of the children, and his mind, thoughts, and 
feelings by the side of theirs, more than any other 
individual's ; whatever he may be, he will be sure 
to stamp his likeness with more or less faithfulness 
upon the minds of every one of his pupils. 

A teacher may, and generally will, mould the 
conformable, imitative mind of the child into his 
own image. To a great extent our teachers give 
us our character. If this be so (and we think no 
one will doubt it who has either observed or re- 

"To write and speak, or, in one word, to express ourselves 
concisely, may well be called the flower of the art of expres- 
sion, which, as it is so little cultivated with us, requires par- 
ticular attention ; it is an accomplishment which few as yet 
seem to acknowledge at all, and as our numerous daily and 
weekly papers offer a ready receptacle for unmeasured political 
papers, so that necessity does not oblige us to resort to con- 
ciseness, — which forms an essential quality, for instance, of an 
officer's report in the field, — we must cultivate it early with the 
rising - generation, lest the greatest part of our people should 
be debarred from obtaining sound and necessary political in- 
formation, by the very abundance of public statements. 

"This excess has rapidly increased of late, and what man 
of business can any longer keep pace with all the reports and 
messages ] Hence they miss so often their aim. Let our 
pupils learn their style from the commentaries of Ceesar, rather 
than from the history of Clarendon; from the precise language 
of a Livingston, rather than imitate what might be called state 
message style." 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 51 

fleeted), what is more important than a good moral 
character in a teacher ! 

Parents, if such a character is of any importance 
in your children, it is of just as much importance 
in their teachers. You must expect to see in your 
children the same virtues or vices, and particularly 
the latter (for the young, as well as those who are 
older, copy the evil of others with much more readi- 
ness and faithfulness than they do the good), taking 
root, and springing up into action that you see in 
their teacher. And, respected instructer, if you 
feel (and you should understand this matter) that 
your doctrines and practice are not right, oh, think 
of the consequences of your unhappy influence ! 

A teacher should govern himself. In this con- 
sists the great art of governing others. We lose all 
authority over others when we lose command of 
ourselves. The disloyalty of our passions requires 
a closer inspection and a stronger guard than any 
official government : and to rule your own spirit 
you will find much more difficult than the control 
of others. You will meet with many things which 
are keenly provocative ; but always keep a close 
watch over yourself, and let nothing throw you off 
from your guard : let your judgment advise and 
control all your actions. 

If you will govern yourself, you will have a good 
government in your school. I never knew a teacher 
who was troubled in managing his scholars, that did 
not first lose the government of himself. These 
rebellious school farces, where teacher and scholar 
try their strength for mastery, commence from some 
weakness or indiscretion on the part of the teacher. 
A man having the strength of law and right, 
and a perfect command of himself, will have 
his authority acknowledged, and his government 
respected. 

There is no employment where the aid of a good 



52 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

judgment is more essential than in the teachers ; I 
mean the teacher of a common school. In all our 
incorporated academies, colleges, and seminaries, 
there are laws prescribing the duties of the instruct- 
ed and the conduct of the pupils. These laws are 
drawn up by learned, experienced men ; men who 
are not local, acting officers of the institution, but 
warm friends and general supervisors. The instruct- 
ed are directed by these laws, and require their 
obedience from the students. 

Now, there is no such supervision from the ex- 
perienced and learned over the common school and 
its teacher ; the instructers in these schools are their 
own legislators, judicative, and executive ; they pub- 
lish their own laws to the colony, and they accuse, 
pass sentence, and punish. 

The professors of a college are not allowed to make 
their laws — they are not permitted to punish in case 
of violation, but are obliged to report the offender 
and the offence to the president or the board of 
managers ; they are neither legislative, judicative, nor 
executive : but why ? because they are not as fit for 
these offices as common school teachers ? This cer- 
tainly is not the reason. Is it because the laws of a 
college are more numerous and difficult ? Is it be- 
cause the government of the educated is more dif- 
ficult than the government of the uneducated ? Cer- 
tainly not. 

The rules and regulations of a primary or district 
school are as important (and require more ingenuity 
in adapting them to the young minds and restless 
bodies of the children) as the laws of a college; and 
the pupils of a district school having usually lived 
without rule and restraint, are certainly less prepared 
to perceive what is right and what is wrong, and 
consequently must be more controlled by the rules 
and regulations of the institution ? 

Why, then, is this department of government 



DISTRICT SCHOOL, 53 

taken away from professors? The reason is, because 
it is much better to have it in the hands of others, 
or, in other words, to have the assistance, counsel, 
and advice of others' experience and learning. But 
the common school teacher has all the professor's 
difficulties and labours, yet none of his aids ; neither 
in the form of wise directions, drawn up by others, 
nor in the judiciary of wise, experienced supervisors. 

The common schoolteacher is left alone: his will 
the law ; his nod the sentence ; and his arm the exe- 
cutioner. Say, then, does not a common school 
teacher need a gooa I judgment? it is the only thing 
that will ensure justice ; it is the only restraint which 
ignorance, and rashness, and cruelty have. The 
teacher has no other aid for discovering guilt and for 
prescribing punishment ; the judgment is the only 
thing that directs unlimited power ; and if this is 
wanting, where can we look for a greater tyrant than 
the common school teacher may become ? 

A teacher should have an even, uniform temper. 
Without this qualification, there will be at one time 
too much harshness and severity, and at another time 
too much playfulness and lenity. Now the pupils 
will fear and tremble under the rage of passion, and 
now destroy all order by unbounded liberties. The 
teacher should always be mild, calm, and collected — 
never moved or excited into an improper state of 
feeling, but always serene and pleasant before his 
pupils ; and at all other times if possible. 

How often is heard the admonitory whisper, 
"Look out, the master is cross to-day;" and how 
often, too, do the scholars take the advantage of 
extreme good-nature, and have a real good hour of 
fun. Scholars watch the mercury of the teacher's 
feelings as closely as they do his eye ; and they 
know when the former will give them liberties as cer- 
tainly as they do when the latter will. This change- 
ableness of temper is attended with serious evils. 



54 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

If a pupil is punished, he will think that it hap- 
pened because the " master was mad." If the scho- 
lar is accused of a bad recitation, he will say, " The 
master was techy enough to-day, and dreadfully 
particular." If the teacher has an uneven temper, 
the scholar will be sure, whatever may be his defi- 
ciencies and commissions, to justify himself, and to 
make the teacher the cause of all the trouble. For 
uniformity of obedience in the school, and for the 
teacher's own comfort, an even uniform temper will 
always be necessary. 

A teacher should have decision and firmness. 
He should be able to decide upon the expediency or 
inexpediency of the act, or request, and then remain 
firm in his decision. I know of nothing which gives 
teachers so much trouble as this want of firmness. 
A request is negatived, but close importunity gets 
an affirmative. This the scholars understand ; and 
they know that a denial only produces a short delay, 
and they are careful to give the teacher no peace, till 
vexation obtains what justice refused. 

Children are full of whims and notions, and will 
always be seeking permission to gratify them ; and 
unless the teacher has firmness to set them aside at 
once, he may expect to be constantly annoyed. Un- 
certainty respecting the teacher's acquiescence or 
refusal, will greatly increase the restless disposition 
of children ; but when there is firmness and unifor- 
mity in the teacher, the pupils can determine before- 
hand what the issue would be, and therefore their 
requests are few and reasonable. 

I know of nothing that throws such darkness over 
the line which separates right from wrong, as this de- 
viation and mutability in the teacher. It also annuls 
all the teacher's regulations ; for the pupils are never 
certain whether they will be enforced or not ; and 
therefore pay little or no regard to them. An uni- 
form, undeviating government, for two weeks, would 



DISTRICT SCHOOL 55 

establish regulations in a school which would, always 
after, without any inquiry, regulate the conduct and 
desires of the scholars. 

But without this stability there are no fixed, known 
laws to guide them, and the pupils are continually 
applying to the teacher. If the teacher will decide 
on his government, and then remain firm, he will 
have but very little to do in ruling ; for the govern- 
ment of a previous day will be all that is necessary 
for the present one.* 

The teacher should be qualified to sympathize 
with his pupils. He should be able to feel as they 
feel, and to think as they think. He should be able 
to put his head and his heart by the side of theirs, 
and rejoice and labour with them. There should 
be mutual feeling between teacher and pupil, and 
this cannot be without they sympathize with each 
other. There should be such a sympathy on the 
part of the teacher with the child's feelings and 
operations of mind, that he will be able to take the 
pupil's place, and stand himself a learner with the 
scholar, and then make his knowledge the teacher. 

It is known that children learn from each other 
with much more readiness and facility than they do 
from adults. The reason is, the one who instructs, 
adapts himself and his mode of teaching to the state 
of mind in the learner. If teachers, with all their ad- 
vantage of knowledge, would become children while 
instructing children, they would make better teachers 
than the pupils could select from their own number. 
But adult teachers are generally so unlike children, — 
there is so little resemblance between them, and such 
a broad distinction between their operations of mind 
and feelings, that there is not much sympathy for 

* When order has once been thoroughly established, when 
the will of each has learned to bend to the unity of the collec- 
tive body, the early severity may be relaxed, and give place 
to kindness and indulgence.— Cousin's Report. 



56 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

each other; and less fitness in the instructions of the 
teacher to the attainments and capacities of the 
scholar. 

It should be the constant aim of the instructor to 
place himself in the condition of his pupils. To do 
this he must cultivate his imagination and his sym- 
pathetic emotions. He must come down where his 
pupils are, and walk in the twilight with them, and 
feel their difficulties, and use their means to sur- 
mount them. In a word, he must be the teacher 
of the school, and yet a learner and a member of each 
class. 

Who is there that needs more imagination and 
sympathy than the teacher of children ? Without a 
large portion of these, who can be a good teacher ? 
To find out what children know, to think in the 
manner they think, and to feel as they feel, we must 
listen to their conversations with each other ; observe 
the language of feeling ; and reflect upon the accounts 
they give of the events and objects they have wit- 
nessed. 

We must also free them from all restraint, and 
talk with them about the things in their ivorld. 
We must be their citizens, their companions, — re- 
joice when they rejoice, weep when they weep, and 
at the same time be changing them from darkness to 
light ; from the littleness of children to the greatness 
of men. 

A teacher should be able to discriminate charac- 
ter, and see the mental and moral dissimilarity of 
his pupils. In his school there will be no two alike ; 
no two who will require the same treatment, or the 
same manner of instructing. Hence the necessity 
of discriminating, that he may adapt himself to the 
individual peculiarities and capacities of each. This 
diversity of character and intelligence arises from a 
different physical organization, from different treat- 
ment and instruction when at home with their com- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 57 

panions and parents, and from, a great diversity of 
other causes which have never been noticed. 

These circumstances make each individual a dif- 
ferent being for the teacher to become acquainted 
with. It is true that all children have many things 
in common ; yet it is as true that each pupil has 
something, and a something ivhich the teacher 
mast understand, that is unlike any other indivi- 
dual. The teacher's business is not so much to in- 
quire into the causes of these peculiarities, as it is to 
study them. There is as great a variety in the 
minds of your pupils, as there is in their faces ; and, 
after a little discrimination, it will be as perceptible. 

Teachers usually have but one government for 
every scholar in school. The timid, sensitive pupil 
receives the same treatment that is given to the fear- 
less and obdurate ; the dull and inattentive the same 
instruction with the sprightly and diligent. The 
child that should be won with tenderness and affec- 
tion, is crushed with harshness and tyranny ; and 
the daringly vicious and impertinent, has a rein no 
tighter than the well-disposed and obedient. 

The pupil who is without restraint at home, con- 
trolled neither by parents, friends, nor conscience, 
the teacher attempts to govern with the same means 
which should be used over those who are obedient 
to their parents, and generally correct in their con- 
duct. He does not perceive the government that 
is necessary for the scholar in school, from the na- 
ture of that which he is under while out. 

No ; it often happens that the most amiable and 
the most unamiable, the obedient and the disobe- 
dient, those of almost intuitive perceptions and the 
dull and the stupid, are brought under the same form 
of government, and the same method of instruction ! 
The result is, that the teacher finds that his govern- 
ment and punishments do not answer their end, and 
his pupils are not benefited by his instructions. 



58 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

They have not been such as their peculiar disposi- 
tions and capacities required. The pupil, who with 
proper management would have been an excellent 
scholar, is now marked out as a dunce ; and he, who 
would have been submissive and obedient, is now 
sent from school as irreclaimable. 

These are the lamentable consequences of not dis- 
criminating character and mental abilities. how 
much do teachers need this power ! Who can be 
a fit teacher without this qualification! Then, let 
every teacher acquire this discriminating power, and 
use it. 

A teacher should be able to illustrate and sim- 
plify. Many of the elementary books which have 
appeared within two or three years have done much 
to make the studies of children attractive and intel- 
ligible; yet simple, familiar illustration from the 
teacher is required in every step of the scholar's 
progress. 

The book alone will be of little value to the 
pupil ; it must be accompanied with the living voice; 
and this voice should create an understanding be- 
tween the child's mind and the book. The teacher 
should illustrate whatever the pupil may be attend- 
ing to in a variety of ways ; he should show the 
connexion which the lesson has to other branches 
of knowledge, and he should be able to apply the 
instruction to the objects or business the pupil is 
acquainted with. 

The greatest truth may be made level with the 
capacities of even the younger pupils, if the teacher 
is apt in his comparisons and illustrations : the most 
abstract truth may be invested with magical attrac- 
tions, if the teacher is familiar with the subject, and 
sees the intimate and harmonious relations which 
run through all the living and visible creation. The 
same truths may be put into a thousand child-like 
forms, yet not adulterated nor divested of their 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 59 

power ; and this the teacher should study to do by 
a beautiful simplicity in his language and ideas. 

By luminous illustrations he may make truth as 
cheering and nourishing to the soul as light is to the 
eye, or the "spirit-giving air" to the lungs ; he may 
make the exercise of learning something new, the 
most delightful employment for the pupil that this 
world will ever give. why is it that children 
"go tardily to school"? Why is it that they dis- 
like instruction ? They were made to know and to 
learn from others: — it is because they are not taught 
as nature teaches, — simply, variedly, pleasantly : 
the great teacher of teachers should be Nature: 
let them watch her pouring light and truth into the 
infant mind, and learn a lesson which no other can 
teach. 

Teachers must be well acquainted with the studies 
before they possess this simplicity : the most learned 
men are always the most simple ; the half-educated 
are those who make a pompous parade of long words 
and intricate, unmeaning sentences. The man who 
is master of his subject is plain, pure, and perspicu- 
ous in his style, and always luminous and eloquent 
in thought : but none need this purity and simplicity 
of language and thought so much as the common 
school instructer ; he is in a mental world, which is 
fresh from the Creator, and with narrow boundaries; 
— he is where the world with all its duplicity and 
error has not yet. intruded ; he is in that young and 
small part where truth and simplicity dwell ; and 
he should be like his citizens. 

Oh! it has made my heart pity human weakness, 
to see a conceited, pompous, arrogant man, the 
teacher and associate of children. I would that 
such might learn that true greatness does not con- 
sist in appearing what they are not ; nor in their 
ridiculous formality and magisterial bearing. The 
teacher, from always being the oracle of his society, 



60 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

is very apt to form such manners. Let me say to 
all such, seek your scholars' respect and affection 
by honesty, simplicity, and truth ; and not by at- 
tempting the "unheard-of and the wonderful." 



SECTION IV. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS CONCLUDED- 

Teachers should love their business. To suc- 
ceed in any art or profession, we must give to it all 
our energies, thoughts, and sympathies. But this 
we will not do except we love this art or profession. 
A teacher will have to make many sacrifices ; he 
will meet with trying difficulties, and he will have 
to be indefatigable in his labours. Now unless he 
loves his employment, he will be of all men the 
most miserable, and will, as soon as possible, engage 
in something else. 

I can scarcely conceive of a more unhappy man 
than a district school teacher, who heartily dislikes 
his business ; and I know not of a more useless one. 
He dreads the hour when he will be obliged to meet 
his thirty or forty Cares and Troubles. He is 
wearied with impatience for the moment when he 
can send them from him ; and then is glad the task 
is done. But the morrow presents the same mise- 
rable prospect, and he enters upon his duties loath- 
ingly, and with sickness of heart. 

No teacher can make his school pleasant, and his 
scholars contented and happy, unless he loves to 
teach. If he is restless and unhappy, his pupils will 
be so. But if he is happy, and delighted with 
teaching, he will make others happy, and delighted 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 61 

with learning. If he has a glad heart, and a smiling 
countenance when he meets his pupils in the school- 
room, they will love the place, and rejoice to meet 
him there. 

Teachers should make their business their study. 
This will be necessary if they wish to make their 
profession honourable, and themselves respected and 
useful. You cannot do justice to your scholars, 
nor to your employment, without devoting to them 
all your time and study. They demand all your 
resources and all your energies. 

You should be constantly inquiring into your 
own deficiencies, and studying the characters and 
dispositions of your pupils ; you should keep a 
close eye upon their progress ; you should examine 
your system of teaching, and your form of govern- 
ment; and you should be continually watching to 
see where you fall short, and might improve. It 
should be your study to know how children learn, 
and to look into the operations of the developing 
mind. You should desire to become acquainted 
with children and youth, and know how they think, 
and how to make them think. 

You should learn their history, and their privi- 
leges and government out of school ; and at all times 
it should be your constant aim and effort to under- 
stand your business. To this end, you should seek 
the society and experience of aged teachers ; you 
should possess and peruse with care, the books and 
periodicals which throw light on the subject of edu- 
cation. At the present day, a few eminent writers 
and distinguished instructers are devoting their 
learning, experience, and talents to the improve- 
ment of elementary schools. Your library should 
contain their works ; and if they expose evils, and 
suggest remedies, you should see the former and 
apply the latter. 

I know of no periodical that is so valuable to the 
F 



62 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

teacher as the "Annals of Education and Instruc- 
tion," published at Boston, and edited by William 
C. Woodbridge. This work is the organ of the 
"American Lyceum," the "American Institute," 
and the " American School Society." The object 
of each of these societies is the diffusion of know- 
ledge, and the improvement of schools. Mr. Wood- 
bridge's periodical, then, is the great national de- 
pository of the light and information that is made 
known on the subject of education. 

Mr. Woodbridge is well prepared to conduct such 
a national work. He spent several years in Europe 
for the purpose of becoming acquainted with her 
literary institutions, and the improvements which 
had been made in their systems of education. After 
returning, he chose the " Annals of Education" as 
an organ through which he might make known the 
information he had obtained in Europe, and the 
condition and improvements of the schools in the 
United States. Every teacher and friend of educa- 
tion should avail himself of the aid and information 
which this work affords. 

Books and periodicals of this kind should be the 
study of teachers. You should know the state of 
intelligence in your own country, the condition and 
number of its schools, and the character and quali- 
fications of their teachers. You should study to dis- 
tinguish between a change and an improvement; for 
every change is by no means a reformation. You 
should be so familiar with your profession as to pre- 
vent impositions, either in the shape of books or 
projected systems. You should study the human 
mind, and know for yourself what is adapted to it, 
and what is not; and then be ready to admit such 
suggestions as correspond with your enlightened 
understanding. 

A lawyer, a physician, or a divine has to spend 
several years in preparing for the practice of his 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 63 

profession ; and after they are admitted, or licensed, 
they must make their profession their study, if they 
ever attain any degree of eminence. A teacher's 
profession is the most difficult of the four ; and he 
should avail himself of all the help he can get, both 
from the studies and the experience of others. 

Teachers also should study to obtain the co-opera- 
tion of parents and other intelligent individuals, who 
may reside in the district, or within the circle of 
their acquaintance. Make the learning and the in- 
formation of all to assist you in your difficult pro- 
fession ; study to make improvements in the art of 
teaching, and give yourself up entirely to your pro- 
fession. You see there is enough to do, enough to 
occupy all your time and all your powers ; then let 
me say again, make your business your study. 

Teachers should be patient and persevering. I. 
know of no other employment in which these quali- 
ties are more essential. To travel with the young 
and feeble intellect, with all its obtuseness and way- 
wardness, requires a large share of patience ; but if 
you grow impatient, and quicken your progress, you 
will leave your pupils behind, to wander without a 
guide, and in a strange country. 

No, you must be willing to take as short steps as 
they take, and to look at every object as though you 
never saw it before ; you must be willing to go again 
and again where you have gone a thousand times ; 
and you must not let familiarity make you indiffer- 
ent, but you must preserve all the freshness and 
novelty of your first journey ; for your young com- 
pany will observe and learn nothing but what you 
feel a deep interest in. The path, loo, that the 
Abecedarian has to tread is long and rugged ; and 
unless you have an unconquerable perseverance, you 
will not be disposed to continue his companion. 

After we have mastered any point, it is difficult for 
us to see why it does not appear as clear and easy to 



64 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

others as it does to ourselves ; and you will need 
patience to make many repetitions and many illus- 
trations which will be dry and tedious to you, but 
absolutely necessary to the learner. Children are 
apt to be impatient under restraint, and discouraged 
with difficulties, — the teacher should possess the 
opposite qualities for their imitation : the pupils 
should see in his conduct that perseverance conquers 
all things ; that nothing is denied to well-directed 
labour; and that if any one ivill wait long enough, 
he ivill obtain his object. 

He who engages in teaching should be qualified 
to overcome the difficulties of his profession. There 
are many trying difficulties peculiar to the district 
school teacher ; but these he must be able to sur- 
mount. He will meet with many parents who are 
criminally indifferent to the education of their chil- 
dren. This apathy or indifference he will have to 
encounter under a variety of forms. Many parents 
have not been educated to the love of knowledge, 
and therefore do not think an education very im- 
portant for their children. 

They do not set a good example for their offspring, 
by taking every opportunity to improve their own 
minds, and to point out the advantages of knowledge; 
and hence the children suppose there is no very 
great necessity for attending to the instructions of 
the teacher. So, instead of having the co-operation 
of parents, the teacher will have to labour against 
their unintentional bad influence. 

The teacher will find some of his employers un- 
able to appreciate his faithfulness and his daily sacri- 
fices ; he will be obliged to toil without their sym- 
pathy, and frequently without their respect. This 
he must not only put up with, but he must make 
extra efforts to supply the parents' deficiencies. The 
attendance of the scholars will be irregular ; and the 
school badly provided with necessary apparatus ; the 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. C5 

teacher must expect to labour under these disadvan- 
tages. The school-house may be unpleasantly lo- 
cated and badly constructed ; it may be in a very 
uncomfortable condition, the windows broken, the 
door off from the hinges, the roof open and leaky, 
the floor and benches broken, and the stove or fire- 
place filling the cramped and crowded room with 
smoke ; this he must endure in many instances until 
he can prevail on his employers to make a change. 

He will find that the scholars have been super- 
ficially taught; that they have been badly governed; 
that they have wretched habits, both in acquiring 
and reciting their lessons ; and that they are averse 
to systematic and close application. These obstacles 
he will have to oppose and overcome. The scholars 
will not be furnished with appropriate books ; those 
they have, are either too elevated for their capacities, 
and will require constant explanation, or so old and 
familiar that they have ceased to excite any interest. 

From a want of books, he will not be able to 
classify his pupils, and thus he will be obliged to 
attend to them separately : this deficiency and un- 
suitableness in books will cause the teacher much 
perplexity and additional labour ; but this he must 
be qualified to do, and prepared to endure. 

He will find many things requiring his attention 
at the same time ; some requesting privileges and 
others assistance ; some covertly in mischief, and 
others disposed to be idle. He must hear and see, 
consent and refuse, keep order, and give instruction 
in almost the same moment. He must have, united 
with the most rapid despatch, great thoroughness 
and calmness ; the greatest versatility of mind, united 
with strength and clearness. 

Such will be the demands on a teacher ; and to 

these he must be willing and able to conform. The 

teacher will meet with parents who are partial and 

full of whims and unreasonable desires. To such he 

f2 



66 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

must be firm ; it will not do to humour them, and 
yet it will be desirable to please. He will need 
much tact and much management ; he must have a 
good share of common sense and independence, and 
pursue a just, straight-forward course. To do this at 
all times, he will find difficult ; but the requirement 
is necessarily connected with his office. 

Accompanying your labours, there will be con- 
tinued monotony and sameness. This you must 
expect, from the nature of your employment. The 
advancement of the pupils must be slow ; while the 
younger are going over the same ground that has 
just been travelled by the more advanced. This 
want of variety will be unpleasant, and you will 
have to free yourself from mechanical operations, 
and seize upon all the interest and variety that the 
cultivation of the mind will admit of. 

If you have a good share of ingenuity, and love 
your business, this monotony will almost disappear ; 
but if your own mind is barren, and unable to find 
amusement in the union of truth with the intellectual 
faculties, you will meet with a weary sameness. 

You will have to guard against the effect which 
the constant intercourse with minds far inferior will 
have upon your own mind. In school you are the 
criterion and the oracle, — your word is law, and 
none dare dissent, — your reasons are given, and 
never disputed, — you are the speaker, and no one 
objects or interrupts. Now, }^ou must be watchful 
that you are not as authoritative and dogmatical out 
of school, as you must be (to a certain degree) in 
school. 

After men have lived the life of a teacher for 
three or four years, they are not commonly very 
agreeable companions. The nature of their business 
has produced this unhappy effect ; and you will be 
wise in bringing all your powers to bear against this 
influence You should frequently measure your 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 67 

mind with your equals, and always treat your pupils 
as intelligent beings ; as if they had a sense of right 
and wrong, and a perception of truth and falsehood. 
And, finally, you must expect much ingratitude and 
small compensation. And you must be prepared to 
forgive the one, and live upon the other. 

These are a few of the difficulties which a teacher 
must meet with, but which he must be qualified to 
overcome. He will need a good share of common 
sense ; a strong, well-furnished mind ; a constant 
curb over his feelings, and a close watch over his 
habits. Let every candidate inquire whether or not 
he has these qualifications, before he assumes an 
office which will certainly demand them. 

A teacher should always appear pleasant and 
affectionate. He should make the scholars feel that 
he is seeking their good, and that he desires their 
happiness. This will be necessary to win their 
confidence and their affections. Without these he 
will labour in vain, and in misery. But if he is 
pleasant and agreeable to the children, they will love 
to be with him, and to hear his instructions. The love 
they have for the teacher will be transferred to the 
studies he teaches, and the acquisition of knowledge 
may be made a constant amusement from the manner 
it is taught. 

A teacher, likewise, should be qualified to show 
his pupils the importance of knowledge. We are 
all very unwilling to make strong exertions for that 
of which we cannot see the use or value ; and we 
are very dilatory in acquiring that which does not 
give present enjoyment, or by which we are not 
in some way immediately benefited. 

How much more disinclined and dilatory are 
children, who are unable to perceive the nature and 
relations of things. They cannot see the necessity, 
or the advantages, or the pleasures of knowledge ; 
and what incentives have they to make its acquisi- 



68 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

tion ? Now, it is necessary that the teacher should 
supply, to some extent, what their ignorance shuts 
out. He should show them the power that know- 
ledge has given to the human race, — the liberty that 
it has given to nations, — the glory and dignity with 
which it has invested the human mind, — the com- 
forts, conveniences, and pleasures it has conferred on 
society, and the respect and influence it gives to 
individuals. 

A perception (even if it should be a faint one) of 
some of these grand results, will give them a fore- 
taste, and a determination, which will ensure high 
attainments. It will make his scholars regard the 
means of cultivating the mind their highest privilege 
and their greatest blessing. Teachers, then, should 
not only possess, and be qualified to impart know- 
ledge to their pupils, but they should be able to make 
them feel its value. 



SECTION V. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMON SCHOOLS, AND THE 
DUTIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE A GENERAL SUPER- 
INTENDENCE OVER THEM. 

The importance of good common or district 
schools is seen and felt but by few. The necessity 
of virtue and intelligence among a free people is 
always admitted ; yet the great majority of our citi- 
zens are almost wholly indifferent to the primary 
schools, the very sources of a nation's intelligence; 
for, as it is well known, nineteen citizens out of 
twenty receive all their education in them. Even 
reflecting men seldom look so near the beginning of 
things as to see that the blessings and perpetuity of 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 69 

our happy government are to a great extent in the 
hands and under the direction of the common school- 
master. 

In our common schools the nation receives its 
education.* Mothers and schoolmasters sow the 
seeds either of tyranny, anarchy, or liberty; for the 
strength and destiny of any community lie in the 
virtue and intelligence of its younger members. A 
wise and good government can be established and 
sustained only by the wise and good ; and if the 
teachers in our common schools are ignorant and 
vicious, the youthful part of the nation must be in 
very unfavourable circumstances : but if they are 
wise and good, the character of the people must be 
greatly benefited. 

In our common schools, our ministers and magis- 
trates, legislators and presidents, commenced their 
education. Here did the men whom we admire as 
the strength and beauty of our nation receive their 
first impressions, their first principles, and their first 
character. In these schools did the men, to whom 
we look up for counsel and instruction, commence 
their moral and intellectual greatness ; and in these 
primary founts of knowledge are placed those who 
will perpetuate or destroy all that is excellent and 
beautiful in this young republic. 

Is not the condition and character of our common 

* There is more hope of the apathy of ignorance, than of 
the self-satisfaction of contentment with matters as the}' are. 
There are many who look upon the current education frr all 
ranks in this country as a model of perfection. As the Edin- 
burgh Review (No. 110 page 541) says, "We are even 
ignorant of our wants. Tn fact the difficulty of all educational 
improvement in Britain lies less in the amount, however enor- 
mous, of work to be performed, than in the notion that not a 
great deal is requisite. Our pedagogical ignorance is only 
equalled by our pedagogical conceit; and where few are com- 
petent to understand, all believe themselves qualified to de- 
cide." — Simpson, 



70 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

schools, then, of the highest importance ? Are not 
the character and qualifications of their teachers of 
the very first consideration ? These schools have in 
embryo the future communities of this land. With 
them, the empire and liberty of these States must 
rise or fall ; for they are at once the repositories of 
freedom, and the pillars of the republic. 

And now, we again ask, are not these schools of 
the highest importance? Should not every indivi- 
dual feel the deepest interest in their character and 
condition? Should not the strong arm of govern- 
ment be thrown around them for a protection ? And 
should not the wisdom of legislation watch over and 
counsel them with a parental solicitude ?* To what 
purpose shall we enact laws, unless there is intelli- 
gence to perceive their justice, and principle to which 
they can appeal ? And what other fountains of in- 
telligence have we for the ivhole jieople, but our 
common schools ? 

But do these schools receive that close attention, 
that friendly aid, that enlightened and fostering care, 
which their high importance demands ? Our intel- 
ligent men appear as if our individual happiness, and 
the glory and prosperity of this nation rested rather 
in our constitutions, revenues, and armies, than in 
the virtue and intelligence of the whole people. 
And how often do philanthropists forget that the 
chief part of human vice is evidently founded on 
the predominance of the sensual over the moral and 
intellectual nature ! 

The learned and leading men in nearly every sec- 
tion of the United States overlook the common 
school, and give their attention, influence, and pe- 
cuniary support to select schools, academies, colleges, 

* Care is everywhere to be taken to famish necessitous 
parents with the means of sending their children to school, by 
providing them with the things necessary for their instruction, 
or with such clothes as they stand in need of. — ■Cousin'' s Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 71 

and seminaries. These men seldom inquire into 
the character or capacity of the teacher or of the 
district-school. Not giving these schools their pa- 
tronage, they feel entirely indifferent to their condi- 
tion. The teacher, consequently, is selected by the 
ignorant ; and the whole management of the school 
left in the hands of the careless and illiterate. 

The uninformed part of the district know neither 
the proper qualifications of a teacher, nor the value 
of an education ; and therefore a man having very 
limited acquirements, and probably many forbidding 
qualities, and without the least aptitude to teach, is 
frequently employed to impart character and educa- 
tion to the children. What may we expect the 
teacher to be, when chosen by such men ! What 
efficiency can we look for in the school, when the 
careless and the ignorant have the whole direction ! 

These schools, then, should have the superintend- 
ence of the learned and leading men ; they should 
assist in making choice of the teacher ; they should 
give the teacher their co-operation, and encourage 
him by their attention and their patronage. This 
more favoured part of the community should feel 
that they have a duty to perform towards the less 
favoured ; and that the blessings of society are mul- 
tiplied by affording the means of moral and intel- 
lectual instruction to every individual. 

The learned and wealthy should perceive that the 
education of the infant mind is far less expensive to 
them than the support of the aged criminal ; that the 
fruitfulness of their lands depends not so much upon 
the richness of the soil as upon the intelligence of 
the cultivators ; and that the labour of him whose 
head can help his hands is far more profitable than 
the service of the ignorant. The learned and wealthy 
should see likewise that universal education is the 
only true security of life and property. 

Learned and influential men may do much for 



72 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

common schools, by encouraging qualified teachers, 
and by obtaining for them public assistance. They 
may give their respect and lend their influence to 
the profession of teaching, and by this means make 
it more reputable and lucrative than it is at present.* 
They may give interest and assistance to institutions 
and associations intended to qualify teachers and 
diffuse knowledge ; and they may see that legislation 
does all that it can do for such schools. 

The duties of inspectors are very important to 
common schools. As the character and usefulness 
of the schools depend upon the qualifications of the 
teachers, the inspectors should be strict in their exa- 
minations, and well assured of the competency of 
those who receive certificates. In organizing the 
school system, inspectors were appointed to prevent 
the disqualified from entering into the responsible 
profession of teaching. 

They are to judge what candidates are prepared 
for instructing ; and to admit none but such as are 
qualified. Thus the character of the district school 
is placed almost entirely in their hands. It is in 
their power to admit none but such as promise to 
be useful in their vocation and honourable to their 
profession ; or, by being lax and faithless, to give 
certificates to those who have not one necessary 
qualification ; and who will, by attempting to dis- 
charge duties of which they are entirely ignorant, 
bring disgrace upon themselves and their employ- 
ment. 

The laxity and ignorance of some inspectors is 

* In Prussia and in France a weekly paper and a monthly 
magazine are published by the government, and sent to all the 
schools. The schools of the United States ask their respect- 
ive state governments for the same assistance. I do not know 
that a part of the school fund could be more wisely expended 
than in defraying the expenses of a weekly paper for each 
elementary school. This paper should be devoted entirely to 
the great interest of primary education. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 73 

one great cause of the low and useless condition of 
many of our common schools. They have acted 
upon the principle that a poor school is better than 
none ; and thus have given their certificate to those 
whom they knew were unqualified. Hence the can- 
didate's examination, under the board of inspectors, 
has frequently been little else than mere form and 
ceremony ; affording no obstacle to ignorance, and 
no measure for the discovery and encouragement 
of real merit. 

The inspectors are requested by the inhabitants 
of a certain district " to be lenient to such a candi- 
date, for he is a cousin, or can be hired cheap ; and 
although he has not much learning, he will do well 
enough for their children." The inspectors, acting 
upon their old principle, that a poor teacher is better 
than none ; and forgetting the high duties of their 
office, and the honour of that profession of which 
they are the guardians, listen to the request, and the 
disqualified candidate finds no difficulty in obtaining 
a certificate. 

This compromise with ignorance and avarice on 
the part of inspectors, has placed men as teachers 
of our common schools who would not be trusted 
by their employers with a favourite horse. Such are 
the consequences of unfaithfulness among inspect- 
ors. Many of them should be far more rigid than 
they have heretofore been ; and they should rigidly 
and watchfully exercise the whole of their duties. 

They should not only ascertain that the candidate 
has the amount of knowledge requisite for a teacher, 
but they should examine his powers of communicat- 
ing to others the knowledge he may possess. This 
qualification, inspectors almost entirely overlook. 
But, as a teacher, it is certainly as important that 
he should be able to impart to others what he 
knows, as it is to be familiar with the branches he 
is expected to teach. And he should be able, not 
G 



74 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

only to communicate what he has acquired, but he 
should be able to communicate it to children. The 
teacher should be able to simplify and illustrate, and 
adapt his instructions to the infant mind. 

But whether the candidate has this necessary 
ability or not, the inspectors seldom ascertain. This 
is frequently found to be a serious neglect; for 
teachers are often seen in our common schools who 
have sufficient knowledge of the elementary branches 
which they teach, but who are wholly unqualified 
for giving instruction to others. The want of this 
qualification is a common defect among teachers ; 
and inspectors should be the more watchful over 
their applicants for certificates. Inspectors should 
also ascertain whether the candidate is fond of the 
society of children and youth ; and whether he has 
studied the operations of the youthful mind, and 
found out how children think and learn. 

And, above all, they should know that the appli- 
cant possesses a good moral character. Many are 
admitted to teach in our primary schools, in con- 
sideration of their experience or high qualifications, 
who are well known to lead immoral lives, and to 
entertain and teach the very worst of principles. 
The highest qualifications should never procure a 
certificate when there is the least blemish on the 
moral character ; and the inspectors here should be 
firm, and require some knowledge of the candidate's 
former life. 

I know not any duties more important and re- 
sponsible, in relation to district schools, than those 
which belong to inspectors. But how often are they 
shamefully and criminally discharged! If schools 
are as their teachers, (and they certainly are,) how 
strict should inspectors be in their examination!* 

* It is the duty of the enlightened persons to whom the 
superintendence of the schools is confided, to watch over the 
progress of the masters in attainments. — Cousin's Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 75 

As the trustees of a common school are local 
officers, living within the district, they have a close 
and continued superintendence over the school. 
Their duties are to employ a teacher, keep the 
school-house in repair, and supply it, or see that it 
is supplied, with all the necessaries which the com- 
fort of the teacher and scholars may require. While 
they are in office, the immediate management of the 
school is put into their hands. If it is the voice of 
the district, it becomes the duty of the trustees to 
see that a proper teacher is constantly employed. 
They must judge of the applications of teachers, and 
refer the most promising to the inspectors. 

If the school should be vacant, and there should 
be no applications from teachers, it is the duty of the 
trustees to make it known abroad that an instructer 
is wanted in their district. It is also the business 
of the trustees to see that the school-house is of a 
proper size, in a good condition, and is comfortably 
furnished with fixtures, wood, and water. If any 
necessary should be wanting, they have the power, 
and it is their duty, to order it, and call upon the 
district for payment. 

The trustees should likewise reconcile the diffi- 
culties which may arise between the teacher and 
scholars, or the teacher and the employers. The 
number of children in the district who draw public 
money must be made out by the trustees, and re- 
ported to the commissioners of common schools. 
These are some of the principal duties of the trus- 
tees of district schools. It can be seen, that they are 
of such importance that the manner in which they 
are discharged will greatly affect the interest and 
usefulness of the school. 

The trustees are the life of the school. If they 
are active, watchful, and faithful, the school will 
flourish ; but if they are irresolute and indifferent, 
the school will dwindle, and finally go down. The 



76 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

trustees should act in union, and with energy. But 
it unfortunately happens that this is not the case in 
every instance ; for it is frequently seen that they 
are far from being prompt and united in the dis- 
charge of their duties. They are often elected when 
absent, and probably not informed of their important 
relation to the school till several months have passed 
by ; and then it is not unusual for them, through 
some personal pique, or the pressure of business, or 
from the peculiar character of their colleagues, or 
some other excuse or whim, to object from serv- 
ing.* 

Thus the school for months, and very likely for 
a whole year, has no efficient overseer to apply to, 
either for wants or direction. Trustees frequently 
omit giving notice, or at least general notice, of their 
special or stated meetings ; and it is very often that 
these meetings are not attended by themselves. 
They frequently differ in their opinions respecting 
the character or wages of the teacher, and thus create 
a delay or a dissension, which is of the greatest injury 
to the district. Sometimes they disagree on what 
are necessaries for the school ; and hence derange 
and almost destroy the organization of the school, 
by denying its reasonable requests. 

One trustee wants a cheap teacher, and a school 
one half of the year ; the others think that a well- 
qualified teacher, although his wages are more, is 
the cheapest, and believe that the district will be 
none too wise if the school is continued through the 
year. The result of this division, very often, is 
the prevention of any school whatever for a long 
time. 

These are some of the evils which our schools 
suffer by having ignorant, faithless, and unreasonable 
trustees. Men who arc appointed to exercise a fos- 

* No one shall refuse to become one of the managing 
school-co_mmitt.ee. — Cousin's Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 77 

tering care over the school, prove themselves to be 
its worst enemies. The inhabitants of the district 
perceive that the affairs of the school want attending 
to, but know that it belongs to the trustees to see to 
them, and so find an excuse for their indifference. 
Thus the trustees, by their office, prevent others 
from doing what they themselves leave undone. 
It is far better that a school should have no such 
guardians, unless they are disposed to be united, 
faithful, and active. Poor schools are owing in a 
great measure to the want of good trustees, and every 
district should be solicitous whom they appoint to 
this office. 

It is the duty of the commissioners of common 
schools to return the reports of the trustees to the 
general superintendent, and to distribute the public 
money among the several districts of the town, ac- 
cording to the number of children in each whose 
age entitles them to the public fund. It is likewise 
their duty to determine the location of the school- 
house, when the inhabitants of the district do not 
agree ; and also to divide or unite districts which in 
their view may require such change. 

The commissioners and inspectors are, moreover, 
expected to pay frequent visits to the several schools 
of the town, and examine their condition, the faith- 
fulness and ability of the teachers, and the progress 
which the children make in their studies. A faith- 
ful discharge of this latter duty would be of great 
benefit to our schools. I sincerely hope, that these 
respectable and important guardians of education 
will hereafter feel it their interest and their pleasure 
to be more attentive to the momentous duty con- 
fided to their trust. Every state needs a separate 
officer of public instruction. The minister of public 
instruction in Prussia gives his whole attention to 
the school and state of education. But in our state 
the general superintendent of common schools is, 
G 2 



78 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

likewise, secretary of state. This is too much for 
one officer. There should be nothing to divert the 
attention of that minister who has the general super- 
vision of the people's education. This public officer 
should, also, take the highest rank. In Prussia and 
in France the minister of instruction ranks with the 
highest officers of state. But singular as it may 
seem, in our own country, where education if possi- 
ble is much more important, this is not the case. 
Several of the states, even, have never had any 
snch officer! !! 

Ministers, if they are disposed, may do much for 
our common schools. I know of no class of indi- 
viduals who have the power of doing more. But it 
is unfortunately the case, that ministers neglect to 
take that care of the education of the children in 
their congregation, which their duty and success 
demand. But few perceive that by the time the 
younger part of their flock receive years and know- 
ledge sufficient to be profited by their sermons, the 
world has given them characters which will be diffi- 
cult to change, and which will probably remain for 
time and eternity. They seem to forget that the 
school-room is the place where they should meet 
the minds of their youthful hearers. 

The minister may frequently invite the teachers 
of the schools in his parish to visit him, and then 
converse with them on the best method of teaching 
children, and how they may increase and improve 
the means of instruction. He will here have an 
opportunity of rendering assistance to those teachers 
who feel an inability to fill their difficult and respon- 
sible office. Ministers should be familiar with the 
character and qualifications of the teachers in their 
congregation, and with the condition of all the 
schools. 

They should know the number of the children 
who go to school, and the number who do not attend. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 79 

They may know the progress which the children 
make in their studies, and the fitness and character 
of the books they use ; and they may ascertain and 
improve the moral discipline by which they are 
daily governed. 

But how seldom is this done! How few ministers 
know as much as they might of the means and 
amount of education in their congreo-ation! How 
few, in their pastoral visits, stop at the school-house, 
and examine the morals and intelligence of the chil- 
dren! We do hope that ministers will feel that 
these schools have stronger claims upon their care 
and counsel than they have heretofore received.* 

But with all this desirable and necessary super- 
vision from law, learning, and experience, the cha- 
racter and usefulness of the school will depend very 
much upon the individual efforts of each inhabitant 
of the district. Parents must be willing to give a 
fair compensation to the instructers of their children; 
and every teacher, and scholar, and guardian, and 
parent, must feel that the interest and value of the 
school depend upon his own intelligence and exer- 
tions.! 

* We must have the clergy ; we must neglect nothing- to 
bring 1 them into the path towards which every thing urges 
them to turn, — both their obvious interest, and their sacred 
calling, and the ancient services which their order rendered 
to the cause of civilization in Europe. But if we wish to 
have the clergy allied with us in the work of popular instruc- 
tion, that instruction must not be stripped of morality and 
religion ; for then indeed it would become the duty of the 
clergy to oppose it, and they would have the sympathy of all 
virtuous men, of all good fathers of families, and even of the 
mass of the people, on their side. 

f After the administrative authorities, it is unquestionably 
the clergy who ought to occupy the most important place in 
the business of popular education. How is it possible they 
could neglect, nay, even repugn, such a mission ] But that 
they have done so is a fact, which, however deplorable, we 
are bound to acknowledge. The clergy in France are gene- 
rally indifferent, or even hostile, to the education of the peo- 
ple. — Cousin's Report. 



80 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

SECTION VI. 

TEACHING SHOULD BE MADE A PROFESSION. 

Teaching, in our district schools, should be made 
a distinct profession. The teacher's employment 
should be made as honourable and as separate as the 
physician's, the divine's, or the lawyer's.* The 
teacher should prepare himself for his business, and 
labour as exclusively in his calling as the lawyer 
does in his. 

To be a good instructer requires as much know- 
ledge of human nature, as uniform a government 
over ourselves, and as complete a mastery of the 
respective studies, as it does to be a good preacher. 
All who take this view of the subject, and we think 
all who have had any experience, or made but a 
few observations, will, must agree with us, when 
we say that teaching should be made a distinct pro- 
fession. 

We would not employ a man who may have had 
a good education, but had given his attention to 
buying and selling goods, to be our physician, when 
disease takes hold upon us. We would not engage 
a man to plead our rights before a judge and jury, 
who had not made the law and the rights of man his 

* But if, on the one hand, it is incumbent on those charged 
with the conduct of the public schools to strive to accomplish 
the duties the state imposes on them for the training of citizens, 
they, on their part, have aright to expect that every one should 
pay the respect and gratitude to which they are entitled as 
labourers in the sacred work of education. Masters and mis- 
tresses ought, therefore, to be the objects of the general esteem 
due to their laborious and honourable functions. — Cousin's 
Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 81 

study for years. Neither would we choose that 
man to be our teacher in divine things, who does not 
make the Bible the rule and study of bis life. 

Why not? Why do we require the wisdom of 
experience and professional knowledge in these three 
vocations ? Is it not because we know that they 
are absolutely necessary ? What is it that the law, 
or the medical, or the theological student gains in 
devoting six or eight years to literary, and three 
years to professional studies? Is it not the expe- 
rience and the wisdom of others ? Is not all this 
preparation made to enable them to perceive the na- 
ture, rights, condition, and duties of man ? 

Now, are the labours of the teacher less difficult, 
less arduous than either of the professions I have 
mentioned ? That the teacher may perform his 
duty well, does he not need the experience of others ? 
Is it not necessary for him to perceive the nature, 
duties, and condition of men ? This will be admit- 
ted. Then why not make it as necessary to spend 
the same amount of time, and enjoy privileges as 
high for obtaining this knowledge? 

Why is it that the practice of law and medicine 
is so much more honourable and lucrative than ele- 
mentary teaching ? Not because these professions 
are more important to the community — not because 
there is any more necessity for them. No ; they 
are less important, less necessary. What, then, is 
the reason ? We answer, that before men can prac- 
tise in either of these professions, they must qualify 
themselves — they must fit themselves for doing 
honour and justice to their profession. 

These professions have taken a high place in the 
estimation of the world, not because they are more 
influential in giving a high and noble character to 
men, for the elementary teacher has the formation 
of the character in his own hands — but because there 
are in these professions, learning, and talent, and 



82 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

character. But why are there not this learning, and 
character, and talent among teachers ? simply because 
their learning is not appreciated — not rewarded ; 
talent with them has no opportunity of gaining dis- 
tinction, and character is not always required. 

Men think more of their ivills, or the pleasures 
of the body, than they do of an education, or the 
happiness of a well-regulated mind. The reason of 
this unwise choice is, they have never been educated 
to the love of knowledge — they have never felt the 
power and pleasure there is in knowing. Why ? 
They have never had teachers who could develop 
the mind, and lay open before it the treasures of 
science. They never had teachers who made the 
school-room the most delightful place they ever 
visited — who made the exercise of learning the most 
agreeable one they ever engaged in. 

But why have there not been such teachers ? 
There have never been any means or pains taken 
to qualify them. The teachers have not made in- 
struction their business — their profession. They 
have not loved their employment — probably dis- 
liked it. They became teachers from necessity. 
This office was not their choice — it was not one 
that they had been making any preparation for. 
How can it be expected that they should make their 
pupils love knowledge, from the simple, attractive 
form in which it should be presented. 

Men who assume this difficult profession, should 
avail themselves of all the aid they can obtain. 
They should examine themselves, and see if they 
are prepared for their work — whether they have an 
aptitude to teach, and whether it is probable they 
will make their business, their profession for life. 
If they intend to make instruction only a temporary 
thing, a stepping-stone to something else, a mere 
filling up of a vacant month, they will have no am- 
bition to excel in this calling, but will be desirous 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 83 

of terminating this unpleasant occupation as soon as 
possible, and of entering into other engagements 
more profitable. 

As long as this is the state of things, our school- 
houses will be furnished with heedless, incompetent 
teachers. If the character of the instructers is ele- 
vated, they must be willing to make their employ- 
ment their profession. It must be their highest 
ambition to obtain the name of a good schoolmaster. 
They must labour to make their office as much re- 
spected as it is important — as ivell rewarded as it 
is useful* Teachers may do this if they will make 
their business their study, their profession. 

When any business is made a profession there is 
a constant accumulation, from experience and ex- 
periment, of practical knowledge ; the evils that are 
discovered receive a remedy, and depart to be felt 
no more — the improvements that are made continue, 
and the highest point of excellence of one aged 
teacher is made the starting point of improvement 
by his successor. 

The reason the art of teaching is so little under- 
stood, is, — there is no instruction in the past. If 
teaching had been made a profession, there would be 
a record of the success and the failure of the past, 
which would contain lessons more valuable to the 
teacher than all the projected theories and systems 
in creation ; but there has been no book kept ; there 
is no light from the past to throw its rays into 
the future ; no voice to teach, and no decisions to 
counsel. 

What was experiment one hundred years ago is 

* Schoolmasters are regarded by the law of Prussia as 
servants of the state; as such, they have the claim to a retiring 
pension in their old age; and in every department a society, 
which the law recommended rather than enjoined, has been 
formed for the relief of the widows and orphans of school- 
masters. — Cousin's Report. 



84 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

experiment still. That which was conjecture then, 
is uncertainty now. Teachers have had no com- 
munication with each other, — no exchange of views 
and sentiments, — no mutual aid ; each one has toiled 
alone ; each teacher's practical knowledge has been 
buried with him, and silence rests upon their tombs, 
and they speak not. 

If instruction was made a profession, teachers 
would feel a sympathy for each other. Members 
of the same profession become attached by a simi- 
larity of efforts and views ; and in this way the self- 
denying life of a teacher may become social. He 
would feel that not only his own honour, but the 
honour of all his professional brethren, and the re- 
spectability of the profession itself, depended upon a 
faithful, conscientious discharge of his duties. 

He would feel that this united effort for the honour 
and usefulness of his profession, demanded some- 
thing from him; and he would act as if he had pledg- 
ed something. This great united effort, this exten- 
sive communication of sentiments, would make the 
teacher feel that the eyes of the world were upon 
him. He would feel that he had an audience, and 
that he had competitors. He would see that there 
was distinction to be gained — that he might be 
known and honoured. 

Unknown or disrespected as he now is, he is con- 
scious of excellences unappreciated, or deficiencies 
unobserved. He compares himself with his school, 
and is proud of his high attainments ; he sees him- 
self the oracle of the little world lie moves in, and 
believes that to know more would be useless. The 
intimacy that the transactions of a united body of 
men would give him with other teachers, would gain 
him honour for his excellences, or dishonour for his 
deficiencies. The learning he would meet, with 
would lessen the high opinion he had conceived of 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 85 

his own ; and the united intelligence of all would 
make him perceive that more might be learned. 

A united body of men command attention and 
receive respect, — -for they have power. The defer- 
ence that is paid to the whole is, in part, transferred 
to each individual. In the eye of the world, the 
limited knowledge of any one of the individual parts 
is enlarged when seen in connexion with the whole. 
We say, then, again, let teaching be made a pro- 
fession ; and let teachers be united for their mutual 
improvement, and for the respectability and useful- 
ness of their honourable profession. 



SECTION VII. 

SEMINARIES FOR TEACHERS. 

Mrs. Austin, the accomplished translator of M. 
Cousin's report on " Public Instruction in Prussia," 
says, " there are two or three other points which I 
would fain recommend to the peculiar attention of 
the reader. One of the most important is the abso- 
lute necessity of securing a constant supply of well- 
trained schoolmasters. Time and experience have, 
it is to be supposed, nearly removed the illusion of 
1 mutual instruction' as a substitute for the instruc- 
tion communicated by a mature to an immature 
mind : — as an auxiliary in certain mechanical details, 
no one disputes its utility. Observation long ago 
convinced me of the entire truth of the maxim laid 
down by the Prussian government, and approved by 
M. Cousin, that * As is the master, so is the school.' " 

There is no truth more evident than the one ex- 
pressed in this maxim. The schools must from the 
H 



S6 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

necessity of the case be like their teachers, hence 
the absolute necessity of using proper means to 
qualify them for the profession of teaching. In this 
department of instruction, Prussia is far in advance 
of the United States. That despotic government 
(though at present paternal in administration) re- 
quires the teachers of elementary schools to pass 
through certain stages of preparation in a normal 
school, before they can assume the difficult and 
responsible station of instructer. The organized 
school system in neither of our state governments 
makes such requirements. We have not till very 
lately given any encouragement to young men that 
would induce them to make suitable preparations to 
teach even a district school. The state of New 
York has just made some provision for the education 
of teachers ; the plan we shall speak of before we 
close this article. There have been a few private 
seminaries which have made the education of teachers 
their principal object ; but these have received no 
assistance from government, and have done very 
little towards supplying the schools of the United 
States. 

The seminary at Andover, conducted for several 
years past by the Rev. S. R. Hall, has done much 
good, both as presenting a model for such institu- 
tions, and by sending out many able instructers. 
At present it seems to be generally admitted that 
such institutions are indispensable, and that it is the 
duty of the State governments to establish and sus- 
tain them. — Since we are about to open seminaries 
for teachers among us, it is fortunate that we have a 
full and faithful report by M. Cousin, of the work- 
ings of the teachers' seminaries in Prussia. 

The American edition of this work will furnish 
our legislature, school committees, and school teach- 
ers with instruction, not only from the highest 
authority, but also from the most enlightened source. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 87 

While speaking of the necessity, nature, studies and 
benefits of seminaries for teachers, I shall avail my- 
self of such parts of this report as will give light and 
interest to the subject ; for says M. Cousin, " The 
true greatness of a people does not consist in borrow- 
ing nothing from others, but in borrowing from all 
whatever is good, and in perfecting whatever it 
appropriates." 

In M. Cousin's remarks on the training of pri- 
mary instructors, he says, "The best plans of instruc- 
tion cannot be executed except by the instrumen- 
tality of good teachers ; and the state has done 
nothing for popular education, if it does not watch 
that those who devote themselves to teaching be 
well prepared ; then suitably placed, encouraged, and 
guided in the duty of continued self-improvement ; 
and lastly, promoted and rewarded, in proportion 
to their advancement, and punished according to 
their faults. Such is the object of title 6, of the 
law 1829. We translate that, as we did those which 
preceded. 

" A schoolmaster, to be worthy of his vocation, 
should be pious, discreet, and deeply impressed with 
the dignity and sacredness of his calling. He should 
be thoroughly acquainted with the duties peculiar to 
the grade of primary instruction in which he desires 
to be employed ; he should possess the art of com- 
municating knowledge, with that of moulding the 
minds of children ; he should be unshaken in his 
loyalty to the state, conscientious in the duties of 
his office, friendly in his intercourse with the parents 
of his pupils, and with his fellow-citizens in general ; 
finally, he should strive to inspire them with a lively 
interest in the school, and secure to it their favour 
and support. 

" Of the training of schoolmasters. — In order 
gradually to provide schools with masters of this 
character, the care of their training must not be 



88 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

abandoned to chance ; the foundation of primary 
normal schools must be continued. The expenses 
of these establishments should be defrayed partly by 
the general funds of the state, and partly by the de- 
partmental funds for schools." 

Here Cousin unequivocally declares, that the 
" state has done nothing for popular education" if 
it does not see that the teachers are well qualified. 
The legislature of each state should immediately 
make provision for the education of common school 
teachers. That Prussia has done this, is the whole 
secret of her superior schools. But teachers must 
not only be "prepared," they must also be, and this 
by the government, "suitably placed, encouraged, 
guided and rewarded." How far short are we of 
Cousin's advice and Prussia's practice! 

The establishments for educating teachers in Prus- 
sia are supported by the government funds and by 
the smaller and local divisions of the government. 
With us the school fund of each state may erect 
suitable buildings, remunerate the professors, furnish 
a library and apparatus, and bear a part of the stu- 
dent's expenses while preparing himself for teaching. 
This would give encouragement to make teaching 
a study and a profession for life. 

The following extract is from Cousin's report, 
and is translated by himself from title 6 of the law 
of 1819. We make this extract to show the design 
which the Prussian government had in establishing 
teachers' seminaries, or to use the Prussian name 
" normal schools." " The principal aim of the pri- 
mary normal schools should be, to form men, sound 
both in body and mind, and to imbue the pupils 
with the sentiment of religion, and with that zeal 
and love for the duties of a schoolmaster which is 
so closely allied to religion." It is seen that their 
design is to make their pupils ?ne?i, in knowledge 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 89 

and in person, and not only this, but religious men, 
and men in love with their business. 

The next extract designates the length of time to 
be spent, and marks out the course of studies to be 
pursued in these seminaries. 

" In each primary normal school the length of the 
course shall be three years ; of which the first is de- 
voted to supplemental primary instruction, the second 
to specific and more elevated studies, and the third 
to practice and occasional experiments in the primary 
school annexed, and in other schools of the place. 
When the supplemental instruction is not required, 
the course may be reduced to two years." 

The plan proposed for this state, in the report of, 
and adopted by, the regents of the university, is to 
select one academy in each of the eight senate dis- 
tricts of the state; to appropriate five hundred dol- 
lars to each, for the purchase of a library and appa- 
ratus adapted to the use of those who are preparing 
to be teachers, thus reserving six thousand dollars 
out of the permanent fund of ten thousand dollars 
now on hand, for future contingencies; and from the 
annual surplus revenue of the literature fund, (esti- 
mated at three thousand five hundred dollars,) to 
appropriate four hundred dollars to each of the aca- 
demies, to provide a special course of instruction in 
the art of teaching. 

The following academies have been selected for 
this purpose. 

For 1st District, Erasmus Hall Academy, King's Co. 

Orange Co. 
Columbia Co. 
St. Lawrence Co. 
Herkimer Co. 
Chenango Co. 
Ontario Co. 
Genesee Co. 

In regard to the course of study to be pursued, it 
is remarked in the report, that the standard should 
H 2 



2d 


« 


Montgomery 


3d 


« 


Kinderhook 


4th 


a 


St. Lawrence 


5th 


a 


Fairfield 


6th 


(( 


Oxford 


7th 


H 


Canandaigua 


8th 


a 


Middlebury 



90 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

be raised " as high as possible," because " the quali 
fixations of those who follow it will incline to range 
below, and not above, the prescribed standard." 
It proposes that none should be allowed to enter on 
the course, who are not acquainted with reading, 
writing, arithmetic, grammar, and so much of geo- 
graphy as is found in the duodecimo works on this 
subject, usually studied in our schools. The follow- 
ing are the subjects of study proposed for the teach- 
ers' course, which are required to be thoroughly 
taught, and while they are not intended to exclude 
others, shall not be allowed to give way to any. 

1. The English language. 

2. Writing and drawing. 

3. Arithmetic, mental and written; and book- 
keeping. 

4. Geography and general history, combined. 

5. The history of the United States. 

6. Geometry, trigonometry, mensuration, and sur- 
veying. 

7. Natural philosophy, and the elements of astro- 
nomy. 

8. Chemistry and mineralogy. 

9. The constitution of the United States, and the 
constitution of the state of New York. 

10. Select parts of the revised statutes, and the 
duties of public officers. 

11. Moral and intellectual philosophy. 

12. The principles of teaching. 

Although the regents have not excluded other 
studies than those contained in this programme, yet 
I am surprised that botany, zoology, and agriculture, 
and even physiology, are not included. 

What more interesting and useful studies for our 
young farmers than botany, zoology, and agricul- 
ture ? And how important is it that they should 
have teachers who are well acquainted with these 
departments of natural history. — Composition like- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 91 

wise is not mentioned ; one of the most important 
parts of every man's education. 

To secure the services of those who have been 
educated by the state, to make such follow the busi- 
ness of teaching, as a profession for life, is the most 
difficult thing of this part of legislation. The gra- 
duates of teachers' seminaries will be qualified to 
demand a much higher compensation for their ser- 
vices, than the employers of district schools will feel 
disposed to give them : and unless there is something 
to prevent, the labourers will go where they are best 
rewarded. There are two ways of securing the ser- 
vices of those who have been educated in the teach- 
ers' seminary. 

The first is, by creating a disposition in parents 
to reward their teachers with an adequate compen- 
sation. If parents are disposed to pay these teachers 
as much as they will be able to get at any other em- 
ployment, they will secure them as teachers ; but 
they will not teach unless parents pay more than 
they do at present. This rests with parents ; and 
we do hope that they will adequately reward those 
who have spent much time and money in preparing 
themselves to teach. 

The other way is adopted by Prussia. I think 
the feelings of the people and the spirit of our go- 
vernment would forbid this. I do not think that it 
can be adopted in this country. It may perhaps in 
part. The following extract from Cousin will show 
the laws regarding those who have been qualified 
to teach by the government. " Every pupil of a 
normal school is obliged, at the expiration of the 
term, to accept the mastership to which the provin- 
cial consistories may appoint him; the prospect of 
advancement being, however, always set before him 
as the consequence of continued good conduct." 
This compels every one who is competent to become 
a schoolmaster. If they are not competent, the)^ 



92 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

are either rejected altogether or sent back to review 
their studies. This will be seen in another part of 
the same work, referred to above. 

" Every young man whose competency is admit- 
ted shall receive a certificate, delivered and signed 
by the whole commission, his examiners, by their 
president, and by the head-master of the primary 
normal school, or other establishment in which he 
was trained to his calling. It must state his moral 
character, and his degree of aptitude for teaching : 
such as prove incompetent shall, by a formal decree, 
be wholly rejected, or sent back to continue their 
studies." 

The Prussian government is careful not to admit 
those into the normal schools who are physically or 
morally disqualified from making good teachers. 
To show this we make another extract from Cousin. 

" The normal school is by no means designed for 
those who are unfit for any business, and think, if 
they can read and write, they are capable of becom- 
ing schoolmasters. This notion is so deeply rooted, 
that you hear fathers declare with all the simplicity 
in the world, — ' My son is too delicate to learn a 
business,' or, ' I don't know what to make of my 
son, but I think of getting him into the normal 
school.' 

u We reply to such, that the pupils of the normal 
school must, on the contrary, be sound both in body 
and mind, and able to btave the toils and troubles 
of a career, as laborious as it is honourable. Much 
neglect unfortunately still exists on a subject which 
is of the highest importance, — the methodical prepa- 
ration of these young men for the calling which it is 
desired they should embrace. A false direction is 
often given to their preliminary studies. A young 
man is believed to be well prepared for the normal 
school, if he have passed the limits of elementary 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 93 

instruction, and if he have acquired a greater mass 
of knowledge than other pupils. 

" It frequently happens, that candidates who come 
strongly recommended from school, pass the exami- 
nation without credit, or are even rejected. The 
most immediate and the most important aim of all 
instruction, is to train up and complete the man ; to 
awaken the energies of his soul, and to render him 
not only disposed, but able to fulfil his duties. In 
this view alone can knowledge and talents profit a 
man; otherwise, instruction working upon sterile 
memory, and talents purely mechanical, can be of no 
high utility. 

" In order that the teacher, and particularly the 
master of the primary school, may make his pupils 
virtuous and enlightened men, it is necessary he 
should be so himself. Thus, that the education of a 
normal school, essentially practical, may completely 
succeed, the young candidate must possess nobleness 
and purity of character in the highest possible de- 
gree, the love of the true and the beautiful, an active 
and penetrating mind, the utmost precision and 
clearness in narration and style." The board of 
examiners connected with our seminaries may ob- 
tain some valuable hints from the preceding extract. 

Attached to every teacher's seminary should be 
a department for teaching the elementary branches 
of an English education. This is necessary that 
those who are preparing to teach may make a prac- 
tical application of their instruction. On "practical 
teaching" hear Cousin. "All the studies and all 
the knowledge of our pupils would be fruitless, and 
the normal school would not fulfil the design of its 
institution, if the young teachers were to quit the 
establishment, without having already methodically 
applied what they had learned, and without know- 
ing by experience what they have to do, and how 
to set about it 



94 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

"To obtain this result, it is not sufficient that the 
young men should see the course gone through under 
skilful masters, or that they should themselves 
occasionally give lessons to their schoolfellows ; 
they must have taught the children in the annexed 
school for a long time, under the direction of the 
masters of the normal school. It is only by fami- 
liarizing themselves with the plan of instruction for 
each practical branch, and by teaching each for a 
certain time themselves, that they can acquire the 
habit of it without method." 

This we think very important ; and whenever the 
states shall feel it their duty (and we trust it will be 
soon) to establish normal schools, the advice in the 
last extract ought not to be forgotten. 



SECTION VIII. 

THE GOVERNMENT AND DISCIPLINE OP A SCHOOL. 

A teacher who loves his school, and addresses 
his pupils with a smiling countenance and a pleasant 
tone of voice, exerts a much happier influence than 
he does who governs by blows and punishments. 
He who allures his pupils into rectitude and industry 
by an agreeable, winning address, holds a very dif- 
ferent relation to them than he would have by excit- 
ing fear and using severity. It is the influence ob- 
tained over pupils by kindness and sympathy that 
produces the highest kind of obedience. 

It is a government of goodness and affection that 
disciplines the moral feelings of the subjects ; and 
it is the lively interest and tenderness felt by a 
teacher for the happiness and improvement of his 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 95 

I 

pupils which exert that kind of influence that is con- 
stantly carrying on a moral discipline. A teacher 
who has the confidence and love of his scholars may 
almost, if not entirely, dispense with his " rules" 
and his " ferules ;" his government is a moral one , 
one that fulfils the law without seeing or knowing it. 

A love of doing right, because it is right, is the 
motive to obedience ; and the ability and habit of 
governing themselves are soon acquired, and the 
regulations of the teacher are no longer necessary. 
Each one now feels that his progress and reputation 
depend upon his own exertions, and upon his own 
moral discernment in perceiving what is right. 

Scholars who are taught and trained in this man- 
ner govern themselves. The teacher's authority is 
superseded by the love of right ; his business now is 
to improve the mind. This is the result of correct 
moral discipline ; and this should be the government 
and discipline of every school. 

The very end and object of all government 
should be to make men govern themselves. Just 
so far as government falls short in producing this 
effect, it is defective. Laws should so command 
what is right, and forbid what is wrong, as to give a 
moral discernment of that course of conduct which 
leads to the happiness of the individual. Thus, the 
right way being perceived, and the individual being 
conscious that this way produces the greatest amount 
of happiness, the laws which first gave this percep- 
tion, and pointed out this way, are in a great* mea- 
sure useless and set aside. The individual now 
governs himself: and this should be the end of law, 
whether national, municipal, or that which is made 
for the school-room. 

A teacher, instead of enforcing the observance of 
his laws, should be labouring to make his pupils 
understand what is right and what is wrong, and the 
certain consequences of doing right^ and the natural 



96 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

and inevitable consequences of doing wrong ; or in 
other words, there should be such a moral discipline 
going on, that the pupils will soon be capable and 
desirous of governing themselves. 

Each scholar, then, will not only be jealous of his 
own good conduct, but of the good conduct of each 
member of the school. Each scholar will feel a 
lively interest in the order and operations of the 
school. He will become a part of the whole, and 
will feel the same general interest that the teacher 
feels. This interest^the teacher should always secure. 
It will make his government easy and popular. 

A teacher should govern his scholars as rational 
and moral beings. They are as capable of perceiv- 
ing a distinction between truth and falsehood, and 
right and wrong, as he is — perhaps more so. After 
we have lived in this world of error and prejudice 
twenty or thirty years, our moral and intellectual 
powers are apt to become disordered, and deceive 
us. But a child is fresh from that Hand which has 
written the law of truth upon the heart, and made 
him capable of discerning between good and evil, 
and between merit and demerit. 

You, as a teacher, are unfolding their mental 
powers, that they may reason and reflect : then give 
them an opportunity of exercising this reason, and 
of making reflections upon their actions and upon 
what they learn. Let them commence this work 
with you, and make some use of your instructions. 
Do not teach them that they are made to think and 
reflect, and at the same time treat them as though 
they were machines, unable to think or reason. 

Let your scholars see that you believe they have 
such powers, in the exercise of which you tell them 
their chief dignity consists. Let the force of their 
desires, appetites, and passions be controlled by 
their reason while they remain with you, that they 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 97 

may be under the same control when they are le r t 
to take care of themselves.* 

Why are children so volatile, and obdurate, and 
dull, and full of mischief? Is it not, in some mea- 
sure, because all natural and lawful exercise of the 
mind is denied them ? Their minds will be active, 
and if they are not allowed to reason, they will 
study to evade ; if they are not permitted to see 
the justness of your command, is it strange that 
they should be obdurate ? Many of your pupils 
will have mature judgments, and all of them unso- 
phisticated ones ; and on matters within the scope 
of their understandings you should appeal to them 
for decisions. 

I know that with some scholars you must use 
force; but, in the first place, try the influence of per- 
suasion and reason. I am aware, that it is much 
easier and quicker to give a blow than a reason ; 
but one reason may secure longer obedience than 
five hundred blows. A government of force exists 
only where the eye of the teacher is resting. A 
government of reason is always looking at the chil- 
dren, and they at it. True it is, that the teacher 
must have authority ; he is the governor of his little 
republic, and must be obeyed. But as far as reason 
can transfer this authority to the scholars, the teacher 
should be willing to relinquish it ; it will govern 
for him. 

Punishments will sometimes be found necessary. 
But severe punishment should be used with great 
care. It should have peculiar reference to the cha- 

* Our principal aim, in each kind of instruction is, to induce 
the young men to think and judge for themselves. We are 
opposed to all mechanical study and servile transcripts. The 
masters of our primary schools must possess intelligence 
themselves, in order to be able to awaken it in their pupils; 
otherwise, the state would doubtless prefer the less expensive 
schools of Bell and Lancaster. — Cousin's Report. 
I 



98 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

racter of the pupil, so as not to awaken a spirit of 
bitterness or defiance, or dislike to study. I think 
that punishment, as much as possible, should be 
mental instead of being corporal. 

But whenever they are necessary, and whatever 
kind may be inflicted, they should answer their end. 
The end of punishment should be to prevent a repe- 
tition of the offence ; but the kind and degree of 
punishment that is generally awarded, and the man- 
ner in which it is usually inflicted, come far short 
of securing this end. The only effect of punishment, 
in too many cases, is the excitement of the bad 
passions of the pupil. And when such passions are 
frequently inflamed, the character is forming, and 
becoming fixed, under the most unhappy circum- 
stances. 

I believe that much of the malignity of men has 
its origin in the injudicious punishment of children. 
When the teacher finds it necessary to correct a scho- 
lar, he should exercise his judgment in determining 
the nature and the degree of punishment which the 
peculiarities of the individual require ; he should 
likewise administer it in that manner which the 
nature of the offence, and an intimate knowledge of 
the character of the offender, may seem to prescribe. 

There is at present a great deal of corporal punish- 
ment in our district schools ; and I am afraid that 
but very little of it answers the end for which it 
should be given. The fear of doing wrong for the 
time, and hatred to the teacher and the school, are, 
too frequently, the results of corporal punishments; 
and I think that teachers should consider this part 
of school government with more care than they 
have hitherto done.* 

* But let the masters never forget, that the severest mea- 
sures of discipline should be pervaded by a sentiment of ten- 
derness and love, which chastises only to improve. — Cousin's 
Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 99 

Punishments should seldom, if ever, be inflicted 
before the school. The fear of being laughed at, 
or called a fellow of "no spunk," will prevent the 
criminal from yielding as soon as he would other- 
wise do, if his pride was not touched by the presence 
of his associates. When the criminal is arraigned 
before the school, he will be less inclined to confess 
his fault and ask the forgiveness of the teacher. 

There should be no check upon the child's dispo- 
sition to yield or to make confession ; on the con- 
trary, all the circumstances should favour this dis- 
position. The teacher should take the offenders 
aside, where they may be unseen and unheard, and 
then show them the nature of the offence, its con- 
sequences upon the school and upon its author. If 
he finds punishment necessary, he should administer 
it with calmness and affection ; convincing the pupil 
that he is pained because his teacher loves him. 

Crimes which are common to many of the scho- 
lars may be made known and corrected before the 
school. Such as the use of profane language, lying, 
quarrelling, and disrespect. These crimes the teacher 
should publicly reprimand. Public opinion ought 
to regard them in such a light, that they would be 
at all times, and in all places, the greatest disgrace 
to their authors. The teacher should frequently 
describe that conduct which ensures happiness and 
esteem, and the opposite, which brings misery and 
disgrace. 

He should show the scholars the effect of habit, 
and the influence it has in prompting them to right 
or wrong actions. He can tell his pupils, that the 
best way to find out what they will be is to inquire 
what they are now, and that their conduct, by the 
time they are twent)^ years old, will have fixed their 
character for life. Instructions of this kind from 
the teacher are very desirable ; yes, I may say, 
absolutely necessary. 



100 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

The teacher ought to show his scholars that he is 
acting under moral obligations — that he is governed 
by just laws, and that he feels and wishes to do his 
duty. This will secure him obedience and respect ; 
it will make the scholars unwilling to injure his 
feelings, or to give him any unnecessary trouble. 
The government should be impartial. The larger 
scholars of the school rendering the same obedience 
that is required of the smaller ones ; the dull and 
the backward receiving the same attention that is 
given to the sprightly and more advanced. 

The children of those parents who are in humble 
circumstances put upon the same equality with the 
more favoured. Justice and impartiality appearing 
in whatever the teacher says or does. This will 
secure the friendship of all, and prevent those com- 
plaints, dissatisfactions, and divisions which are now 
so common in our district schools. 

A teacher should have the same government over 
himself out of school, that he has in school. I have 
seen many teachers lose the respect of their pppils 
by frivolous, improper conduct while out of school. 
This is to be lamented by all. Inconsistency of 
character always destroys a man's influence ; and 
no one will see it sooner than a scholar when ex- 
hibited in his teacher. The scholar has been con- 
victed of impropriety, and now will be on the watch 
to detect the same fault in his teacher. This should 
make teachers more circumspect. They may have 
a wise government in school, but counteract all its 
influence by their boyish or unsuitable conduct while 
out. 

The government of a school should be regular 
and systematical. Children love system. They 
are delighted with order and regularity ; and the 
benefit of the school will depend very much upon 
the teacher's having a time for every thing, and 
every thing in its time. Every scholar, also, should 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 103 

have his place, and every one should be in his place. 
By such arrangements, the instructer will accom- 
plish more in ten minutes than he would in an hour 
without system. The government in our district 
schools is not as systematical as it ought to be ; many 
of them are miserably deficient in this important 
part. 

For this defect there are two reasons which ap- 
pear to be the main ones. The first is, in such a 
changing, discordant scene, it is difficult to establish 
and sustain order and system; and in the second 
place, the most of teachers have but very little sys- 
tem in their own thoughts and life. But I know 
of no employment where the want of order and 
system is productive of so much injury, as it is in 
the government of a school. Nothing, or next to 
nothing, can be done without them. They only 
can prevent confusion and much needless waste of 
time. 

Teachers should never threaten. As soon as you 
threaten you commit yourself. You cannot exercise 
your judgment in the next offence, but you must 
punish, let the circumstances be what they may. 
By scolding, you show your weakness; and by 
threatening, your injustice to the present, and your 
slavery to the future. 

How seldom are threats executed ! The teacher 
does not intend to execute them at the time they 
are foolishly made. He makes them to frighten 
for a moment, but not to remember them. But is 
not this something more than a white lie? Is it 
not the very worst example for children, who are 
generally so prone to tell what is not true ? More 
care, much more should be used by teachers in this 
part of their conduct and government. 

A government should not be severe at one time, 
and lax at another. A teacher is very apt to 
govern as he happens to feel. If he is a little un- 
i 2 



102 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

well, or has met with some unpleasant circumstance, 
he is inclined to be hasty and severe; he does not 
make those allowances which he does at other times, 
and works off the bad humour, which has been 
caused by something foreign to the school, on some 
little offence of one of the scholars. This capricious- 
ness renders his government unpopular, and makes 
the pupils suppose that their punishment is bad for- 
tune instead of justice. They will not be willing 
to submit to this freakish authority, and will be 
more inclined to dispute than to obey A govern- 
ment should always be uniform. * 

Teachers in their government should exercise 
much charity. They should, indeed, have that 
charity "which suffereth long, and is kind," and 
" which is not easily provoked." Those who teach 
will meet with many unpleasant scenes — with many 
provoking things ; but they must learn to forgive, 
and at the same time to reprove with firmness, yet 
in love. 

The government and discipline of a school should 
have particular regard to the manners of the scho- 
lars. Very little attention is given in our district 
schools to this important part of education. I say 
important, for manners are something with all, and 
every thing with some. I must say, and it is with 
reluctance, that the American people have too great 
a disregard (may I not almost say contempt) for 
what is called " politeness." 

As soon as this word is mentioned to some, hy- 
pocrisy, affectation, and hollow civility dance in 
their fancy, and they immediately suppose that 

* Fixed laws give to an institution a steady course, protect 
the weaker against caprice and tyranny, prevent mistakes and 
precipitation, and, what is more important for the future, they 
show in a clear and striking manner the necessity of laws for 
the commonwealth, and train youth to a reasonable and willing 
obedience to them. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 103 

every one who is polite is insincere, a dandy, and a 
fellow of great pretensions, without the least worth. 
They think that politeness and honesty can never 
be united ; and hence they have suspicions of every 
one who is not as rough and blunt as they are. 
Therefore they take no pains to improve their own 
manners, or to correct the indecencies and clownish- 
ness of their children or associates. 

The manners and address of the teacher never 
undergo inspection; they are probably never thought 
of, unless they are a little cultivated, and then, per- 
haps, they are set down to his disadvantage. This 
is not always so, but it is too often. We, as a peo- 
ple, have too much selfishness, too much cold inde- 
pendence. We are too indifferent to those little 
things and decencies upon which the most of our 
happiness is placed. In our intercourse with each 
other, there are a thousand attentions and civilities 
which greatly increase our enjoyment, and which 
cost us neither time nor money. 

This all know, and all acknowledge; and it is to 
be regretted that so little attention is paid to the 
manners of the children in our district schools. It 
is true, they are taught, in some places, to pull off 
their hats, and to pitch the head towards the ground 
when a neighbour or a stranger passes or enters the 
school. And this is the whole amount of their in- 
structions. 

If they obey orders in this, by making prepara- 
tion for some time before the traveller comes up, 
and by repeating the bow or courtesy three or four 
times, they have learned sufficient, and are looked 
upon as "patterns of politeness." Chastity of 
thought and language, and graceful manners, 
are seldom required. It is painful in the extreme 
to witness the uncouthness and vulgarity which is 
licensed by some teachers ; for to be silent on the 
subject gives a license. I know that there are 



104 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

many teachers who are honourable exceptions, and 
I wish there were more. A proper degree of atten- 
tion to the convenience and happiness of others 
is no small virtue. It is a duty which is binding 
on all. 

Teachers should strive to make their pupils agree- 
able companions, pleasing in their address, and cour- 
teous in their conversation. They should be careful 
to see that the intercourse of their pupils, while at 
school, is of this character. If such a habit is form- 
ed there, it will be natural and easy for them to be 
so when away from school. The teacher may do 
much in this branch of his duty by watching over 
his own manners and feelings. The children will 
naturally copy from him. What I have said on this 
subject is well meant, and I trust it will be as well 
received. 

Teachers also may pay more attention to the lan- 
guage which their scholars use. Wrong pronuncia- 
tion and bad grammar appear in almost every sen- 
tence. Teachers should notice this, and correct 
whatever may be wrong or inelegant. The scholars 
should be taught to express themselves with ease 
and propriety. It will ^greatly assist them in think- 
ing correctly and forcibly, and it will prevent them 
from being misunderstood. 



SECTION IX. 

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS. 

Among all the offices and stations which men are 
called to fill in society, there is no one that brings 
greater responsibility than the teacher's. If we con- 
sider the qualifications which are requisite from the 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 105 

nature and difficulties of his employment, or the 
effect of the impressions and principles which the 
scholars will receive from the teacher, we shall look 
upon his office as connected with the most fearful 
accountability. The teacher is placed with immor- 
tal beings, who have just commenced their exist- 
ence, and who have neither the warnings of expe- 
rience nor the restraints of judgment; yet are 
rushing forward, reckless and susceptible, at the 
mercy of the various causes and influences which 
they are daily under. 

Their ignorance must be instructed, their mental 
faculties developed, and those opinions and princi- 
ples inculcated which will fix the character for life. 
The pliable natures of children are moulded and 
shaped by their education; and this is committed 
to the care of the schoolmaster. I believe that in- 
structed seldom reflect upon the extent and nature 
of their influence with the susceptible minds of their 
pupils. 

They frequently assume the office of teaching, 
with no other consideration than that the employ- 
ment will be less arduous than some other avoca- 
tion, which otherwise would be more agreeable to 
their feelings. They perceive not the effect which 
all their feelings, opinions, and actions will have 
upon minds which are growing into character, and 
which will soon be placed where they will act upon 
other minds. 

Not reflecting upon the lasting and controlling 
influence of their example and instructions, they do 
not see or feel the responsibility of their station. 
Thus they form and fix the characters of rational 
and immortal beings with as much indifference as 
they would manifest in raising food for the body 
that will quickly return to dust, or in manufacturing 
an article of clothing that is soon to perish with the 
usage. 



106 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

From the present and unending consequences of 
acting upon the young and pliant mind, I can think 
of no one who should have closer or more serious 
self-inspection than the teacher. Yet, how often do 
we meet with teachers as ignorant of themselves as 
they are of their business ! They have supposec. 
teaching to be an easy task, because they saw not 
its duties and obligations. They rashly and fear- 
lessly offered themselves as members of the most 
difficult and responsible of all professions, (for that 
which forms the characters of men is such,) because 
they neither understood themselves, nor saw the 
momentous relations which exist between teacher 
and scholar. 

Let candidates, then, for this profession, reflect 
upon the influential and accountable nature of the 
teacher's office; let them learn beforehand something 
of its labours, difficulties, and fearful responsibilities. 
Teaching, then, will not be chosen to gratify a feel- 
ing of indolence, nor undertaken without some dis- 
trust in present qualifications, accompanied with a 
hearty desire for further improvement. 

The responsibility of a teacher is increased by an 
original principle in children to imitate. Chil- 
dren delight in every species of imitation, and by it 
they make their first acquisitions. A change in the 
countenance of the teacher will be imitated by the 
scholars. If he laughs, so will they; if the teacher 
yawns and mopes, so will the scholars. From this 
strong and universal principle to imitate, even the 
teacher's gait, and pronunciation, and address, will 
be closely copied by his pupils. 

It was said by one who had closely read many 
pages in the book of human nature, that " Either 
wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men 
take diseases, one of another; therefore let men take 
heed to their company."* While the organs of the 
* Shakspeare. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 107 

body are pliable, and the muscles flexible, we would 
say, let parents take heed to their children's 
tutors. 

This proneness or propensity to imitate is so 
strong in children, that they always have the pecu- 
liarities of their associates. And whose manners 
and habits are so constantly before them as the 
teacher's? Thus the teacher is giving character to 
his scholars by his every look and action. He is 
not only responsible for what he teaches, but for 
every emotion of the mind and movement of the 
body. The sympathetic nature of emotions and 
passions is such, that the teacher's feelings will, in 
a measure, become the feelings of his scholars. 

If he is uncouth in his appearance, awkward in 
his address, and of an ill-natured and fretful dispo- 
sition, his scholars, to a great extent, will resemble 
him ; and on the other hand, if he is easy in his 
manners, calm, generous, and noble in his disposi- 
tion, his scholars will insensibly imitate these desira- 
ble qualities. Whatever the teacher may be, he 
will give his own character to his pupils. Scholars 
always look up to the teacher as their model. To 
them, whatever has the teacher's approval is right. 
He is their criterion and their example. How won- 
derfully does this reverence, and this proneness to 
imitate, increase the teacher's responsibility. 

This principle of imitating the conduct and man- 
ners of others was implanted for wise purposes, and 
may be turned to a good account. Says Dugald 
Stewart, " How many are the accomplishments 
which children might acquire insensibly by imita- 
tion, merely from the habitual sight of good models, 
and which may thus be rendered to them a second 
nature, instead of consuming their time afterwards 
as arts which are to be systematically studied ! 
Of this kind, manifestly, is every thing connected 
with grace, both in utterance and in gesture ; attain- 



108 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

merits which become altogether impossible, when 
their place has once been occupied by perverse 
habits, caught from the contagion of early example, 
and too deeply rooted in the frame to be eradicated 
afterwards by any speculative conviction of the 
ridicule attending them." 

Not only are bad manners caught from others, 
which cost us much time and expense to lay aside, 
but so ready are we to do what others do, that I 
think it will not be extravagant to say, that bad ex- 
ample has been the cause of as much evil in this 
world as depravity itself. We know that most of 
the knowledge which children possess is acquired by 
imitating ; while young, they learn but little from 
precept. Authority and imitation are the tico 
great educators of every people. 

Thus every one who associates with children, as 
well as with teachers, should be careful to give their 
authority to such things only, as are wise, just, and 
good, and at the same time to lead lives which will 
make good models for the young to imitate. Parents, 
and teachers, and every adult person, have more in- 
fluence upon children by example than they com- 
monly suppose. For this reason I have said more 
on the principle of imitation than some may think 
necessary. 

Teachers are under a high responsibility, since 
to them, parents have committed the education 
of their children. They have voluntarily under- 
taken to assist parents in one of their most important 
duties, and the parent has confided a trust in them, 
of the highest nature. Parents have incurred con- 
siderable expense in furnishing means for their 
children's education ; and these means they have 
placed in the hands of the teacher. Whatever these 
may be, the teacher promises to use them for the 
best interest of his scholars. 

Faithfulness here is expected from the employers, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 109 

as well as promised by the instructor. Industry, 
honesty, and a good judgment, are all requisite to 
make a full and faithful discharge of this engage- 
ment. Parents make many sacrifices that their 
children may receive an education ; they wish them 
to become intelligent and respectable ; and they feel 
a high interest in the improvement of their minds 
and morals. 

But the benefit of the privileges which they give 
their children, and the realization of their wishes, 
depend, in a great measure, upon the manner in 
which the teacher performs what is justly expected 
from him. So far as he has the opportunity of pre- 
paring the child to meet the parent's hopes, he is 
bound to do it ; and while the children are with him, 
he is responsible for the manner in which they im- 
prove their time. 

The happiness of parents depends very much 
upon the character and conduct of their children. 
But this character and conduct the teacher has taken 
upon himself to form and direct. He has said, — I 
will qualify your children, as far as the improve- 
ment of their minds and the effect of good morals 
will go, to be not only skilful in their future occu- 
pations, but to be dutiful and intelligent members 
of the family. 

Those parents, who have been privileged with a 
limited education only, and who are compelled to 
devote all their time to support their family, are 
obliged to trust their children's education almost 
entirely with the teacher. Among mechanics and 
agriculturists, children receive but very little in- 
struction at home. They are sent to school a short 
time, and the instructions of the schoolmaster are 
nearly all they ever receive. How deeply respon- 
sible is the teacher, when the parent must commit 
to him the entire education of his children ! 

Again, another parent watches over the education 
K 



110 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

of his children with the deepest solicitude. He is 
careful to check every evil propensity ; he is anxious 
that his children imbibe good morals, and receive 
good principles, and he brings them up to do justly, 
to love each other, and at all times to render strict 
and willing obedience. This faithful parent has 
high hopes of his children, for they appear promis- 
ing ; and, to increase their advantages, he sends them 
to school. 

Now the teacher, in taking the care of these chil- 
dren, becomes deeply accountable to the parent It 
is the teacher's duty to exercise that watchfulness 
over them, which they receive at home, lest the 
school should prove an injury, and not a benefit. 
This vigilance will be necessary, that the new as- 
sociates and discipline of the school be to them a 
good, and not (as they are too often with children 
who receive this attention at home) an evil. In 
every circumstance the teacher is deeply responsible 
to the parent for the manner in which he educates 
his children. 

Society expects that teachers ivill make chil- 
dren and youth social, honourable, and bene- 
volent members. From this just and reasonable 
expectation of society, there is resting upon teachers 
a deep responsibility. The relations between the 
more aged members of society and those who have 
the care and education of the rising part, are close, 
and of the highest interest; for the strength and 
respectability of any community rest with the in- 
telligence and honesty of its youth ; with their virtue 
and industry rest its happiness and prosperity. 

The labours, sacrifices, and virtues of the aged 
and middle-aged, have conferred upon society, peace, 
promise, and liberty ; but these blessings must now 
be intrusted to the children and youth who are in 
the hands and under the government and instruction 
of the schoolmaster. How deeply, then, do the 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. Ill 

teachers' duties affect the interests of society ! How 
responsible are they, who have the care of those 
who are not only to make the future communities 
of the land, but who will either sustain or destroy 
the honour and happiness of their fathers. 

We say, then, that teachers are highly accountable 
to society for the manner in which they educate its 
youth. The teacher is responsible to society, not 
only from having the minds and morals of the youth 
under his direction, but also from holding a station 
so favourable for making good members of the social 
community. His school is society in miniature. 
He may call forth and train all those feelings and 
passions which will be requisite to make good friends 
and neighbours in after-life. 

Children, when together, exercise the same selfish 
or social nature that they will manifest in a more 
advanced age ; and from the exercises and social 
intercourse of the school, he may prepare them for 
the duties and social intercourse of society. This, 
certainly, greatly increases his obligations, and taken 
in connexion with his influence in forming the cha- 
racter, must place the teacher in such a relation to 
society that is, indeed, of high responsibility. 

Teachers are responsible to their country for 
the manner in which they educate her youth. 
Men, generally speaking, are good or bad citizens, 
according to the kind and degree of education which 
they have received when young. The faithful 
teacher, who makes his scholars virtuous and intelli- 
gent, fits them for achieving or maintaining their 
political freedom : but he who neglects their moral 
and mental improvement, or inculcates wrong prin- 
ciples, is, in the highest sense of the word, a traitor 
to liberty. 

I know of no one so intimately connected, not 
only with the liberty of this nation, but with the 
liberty of a world, as the teacher of American youth, 



112 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

With him, to a great extent, rests the moral and 
political freedom of man. In what a responsible 
relation then does he stand to his country! He is 
forming the characters of those who will either 
perpetuate or destroy the free institutions of the 
land. He is giving that kind of education that will 
cause the youth of the nation to respect and sustain 
the blessings which our fathers have conferred, or 
that kind, that will disrespect a legacy which has 
been obtained by their valour and their blood. 

The light and defence of our literary institutions ; 
the strength and justice of our laws ; the sacredness 
of our constitution, and the honour and greatness of 
our country's name, call upon every teacher of 
American youth to be faithful to his trust. They 
expect from him the blessings of their establishment, 
and the continuance of their existence. The school- 
houses of a nation bestow and sustain her liberty 
and glory. The American people have founded the 
temple of freedom on virtue and knowledge, and 
this foundation they expect their teachers and minis- 
ters to lay. If they are ivise, virtuous, and faithful, 
the nation has nothing to fear ; but if they are igno- 
rant and immoral, American freedom will perish. 

The responsibility of teachers is great, from the 
consideration that they will give character to 
future communities. As the present generation, 
in a great measure, determines and fixes the character 
and destinies of the generations that will follow, the 
influence of teachers will reach beyond the present 
age ; it will be felt on the coming generations, as 
they rise up one after the other, till the last moment 
of time. 

From those who went before us we received our 
national reputation, our opinions, our government, 
and our religion ; and all these were from the teach- 
ers of our fathers ; so, from our teachers will those 
who next follow, receive their moral and political 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 113 

character. He who acts upon mind, takes hold of 
the future, and acts upon eternity. He who gives 
shape and character to one mind, goes wherever that 
mind goes, acts wherever that mind acts, and speaks 
whenever that mind speaks. 

How accountable, how deeply responsible, then, 
are those who educate and give character to youth ! 
Teachers should think of the nature of what they 
are called to superintend — the active immortal 
mind; and they should reflect on the boundless 
space which their influence will go into. 

Again, the responsibility of teachers is seen by 
reflecting, that the happiness of each scholar, in a 
great measure, is in the hands of the instructer. 
The Rev. Samuel R. Hall has very justly said, in 
his incomparable " Lectures on School-keeping,'' 
"That the teacher has the power of directing his 
scholars in almost any path he chooses ; you may 
lead them to form habits of application and industry, 
or, by neglecting them, permit them to form those 
of idleness and indifference. You may win them 
either to a love of learning and a respect for virtue; 
or, by your negligence and unfaithfulness, you may 
suffer them to become regardless of both. 

" You have the power. to lead them to a cultivation 
of the social affections, to make them kind, benevo- 
lent, and humane ; or, by your neglect, they may 
become the reverse of every thing that is lovely, 
amiable, and generous. It will be greatly in your 
power to assist them in learning to make nice dis- 
tinctions in the examination of moral conduct, and 
to govern their own actions accordingly ; or you 
may, by your unfaithfulness, suffer them to contract 
the habit of pursuing, regardless of consequences, 
every thing they desire, and opposing with temper 
every thing that counteracts their wishes." 

And, lastly, how responsible are teachers, since 
their influence will reach into the world u that is 
k 2 



114 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

to come" Whether scholars, when they are called 
to their final account, shall receive the reward of the 
righteous or the punishment of the wicked, will 
depend very much upon the moral and religious 
influence of their teachers. Instructers not only 
form a character for this world, and one that will be 
estimated by men, but likewise a character for 
eternity, and one that will be estimated by a holy 
and a righteous God. 



SECTION X. 



The labours of a common school teacher are 
arduous, difficult, and responsible ; and I know of no 
individual in the community whose services are 
more necessary or valuable than those rendered by 
a faithful, well-qualified teacher. Those who admit 
these propositions (and we think every reflecting 
man will) agree with us, that labours at once so try- 
ing and so important should always be well rewarded. 
But are teachers adequately remunerated ? — are 
their wages such as to encourage young men to 
qualify themselves for teaching ? — such as to secure 
men who will make the profession of teaching 
honourable, and our schools valuable ? We must 
say they are not. 

Capable, faithful teachers do not receive a suffi- 
cient compensation. The common school teacher, 
who is employed for twelve successive months, does 
not receive more than eleven dollars per month. 
There are a few who get more than this sum, yet 
a greater number who receive less. Now the com- 
mon labourer, who hires himself to the farmer by 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 115 

the month, gets as much as the teacher ; and the 
wages of the mechanic are double the wages of the 
teacher. 

It is a very common practice with young men who 
teach during the winter, to labour on the farm dur- 
ing the summer : and they make this change because 
the summer wages of the farm are more than the 
wages of the summer school. There is no employ- 
ment among the American-people (what a reproach 
to our intelligence and affluence!) which receives 
less pay than elementary teaching. Yes, there is 
no service so menial, no drudgery so degrading, 
which does not demand as high wages as we are 
now giving for that which is the life of our liberty, 
and the guard of our free institutions. 

Our leading intelligent citizens perceive this fact, 
and they have published it, and done much to make 
the lamentable truth known and felt by every parent 
and guardian in this republic ; yet, but few, very 
few consider it ; for even now, many honest men 
think that teachers have an easier life, are better 
paid, and better treated than any other labouring 
class in the community. The great majority of the 
people do not see that they give no extra advantages 
whatever to those who are giving the nation its 
education and its character. 

A young man cannot afford to expend one cent 
in making preparation to teach a common school, 
for his wages, as a teacher, will be no more than 
those of a common labourer. All that he pays for 
knowledge requisite to teach a school, is lost, in a 
pecuniary point; for if he did not know how to 
read, his mere muscular effort would demand as high 
wages as he will be able to get, after spending two 
or three years, and as many hundred dollars, in 
qualifying himself to teach. 

The little compensation which parents are dis- 
posed to give their instructers, offers no inducement 



11G DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

to young men to make any preparation for teach 
ing.* The consequence is, that a great number of 
our school-houses are furnished with incompetent 
teachers. Parents complain loudly of this defi- 
ciency ; but they seldom perceive the cause of the 
ignorance and inexperience of teachers. 

They never reflect upon the necessary expenses 
which an individual must incur by preparing him- 
self to teach, and upon their own unwillingness to 
pay an adequate compensation to those who are 
qualified. Parents cannot reasonably expect excel- 
lence and ability if they are unwilling to reward 
such qualities. If they are disposed to pay teachers 
no more than they now pay them, they must expect 
their teachers to have the deficiencies which they 
now complain of. 

But few parents perceive the bad effects of giving 
low wages to teachers. The evils arising from this 
ill-judged parsimony are numerous and destructive. 
It prevents young men from obtaining proper quali- 
fications — it makes teachers indifferent and unfaith- 
ful in their employment — it makes them dislike 
their business, and anxious for some other occupa- 
tion — it puts men in our schools who are lazy and 
ignorant — it makes teaching a temporary business 
for a few idle months, and it makes the teacher's 
profession low and disreputable. These are some 
of the evils which make our schools, in a great 
measure, useless to what they might be, and evils 
which arise from giving teachers too small a com- 
pensation. 

If parents ivould give teachers a higher com- 

* If you would have good masters, you must first of all en- 
sure them a maintenance. The Prussian law expresses itself 
on this head in the most solemn manner. "It is our firm 
will," says the king, in whose name it speaks, " that in the 
maintenance of every school, this be regarded as the most im- 
portant object, and take precedence of all others." — Cousin's 
Report, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 117 

pensation, it would encourage young men to 
qualify themselves for instructing. In the United 
States men pursue science and literature for a liveli- 
hood. There are but very few whose circumstances 
are such as to permit them to seek knowledge merely 
to gratify a love of letters. The most are obliged 
to make use of the attainments they have made as 
a means to give them a support. No one will im- 
prove his education beyond what is required by the 
common business of life, unless he knows that these 
extra acquisitions will be the means, hereafter, of 
giving him higher wages for his services. He can- 
not afford it. 

If he prepares himself to teach others, the taught 
must be willing to pay him for that preparation ; 
for these previous expenses will not be incurred 
unless there is a certainty of a future return. If the 
wages of teachers were higher, the candidates for 
this profession could afford to make a proportionate 
preparation for this office. And hence, if parents 
would improve the character and usefulness of their 
schools, they must be willing to indemnify teachers 
for the extra expenses necessarily incurred by mak- 
ing suitable attainments. Young men will never 
qualify themselves to teach until they see this dis- 
position in parents. 

But as soon as a good education is honoured and 
rewarded in a teacher, acquisitions extensive and 
suitable will be made. Reward the profession of 
teaching as liberally as we do the profession of law 
or physic, and the teacher will be as liberal in his 
preparation as the lawyer or the physician. If we 
have poor teachers, it is because we give poor pay ; 
and if we would have better teachers, we must pay 
better. Parents have it in their own power, as we 
trust has been clearly shown, to raise the character 
and qualifications of teachers ; and we shall now show 
that it would be for the parent's interest to do so. 



118 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

Iii the first place, it would be the parent's interest 
to employ qualified teachers, because it loould save 
tuition money. Parents pay more money for the 
education of their children by employing incom- 
petent instructers, than they would do by employ- 
ing teachers who are competent. In the affairs of 
life, parents generally perceive that the cheapest 
article is commonly the dearest ; and those of more 
reflection perceive that this is always the case in the 
article of teachers. 

A child, to obtain the same amount of knowledge, 
must attend to the instructions of a poor teacher 
three times as long as would be necessary with a 
good teacher. Thus, if parents do give but little to 
the teacher, they pay dearly for their children's 
instructions. If they would secure the services 
of a qualified teacher, by giving him double the 
price of present wages, their school tax would be 
one-third less than it now is. We think it is clear, 
that even in a mere pecuniary point, it would be for 
the interest of parents to give a suitable compensa- 
tion to competent instructers. 

In the second place, qualified teachers would pro- 
mote the parent's interest by saving their children's 
time. Scholars under a good teacher will be as far 
advanced at fourteen years of age as they will be at 
twenty under a poor teacher. The time between 
fourteen and twenty could be spent in learning a 
useful trade, or in assisting the parent in the main- 
tenance of the family. When children arrive at 
fourteen years of age, they should begin to acquire 
habits of industry ; and at this age their services 
begin to be of considerable value to the parent. 

If the child is sent to school at a proper age, a 
faithful, qualified teacher will have given it a good 
English education at fourteen. The child is then 
prepared to engage in some useful employment. 
But under the present state of things, children must 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 119 

be sent to school more or less till they are twenty, 
and then they have but a very limited education ; 
not so good a one as they might have at fourteen 
if properly instructed. 

Parents do not perceive the time which is lost by 
employing incapable instructers. The time which 
the children would gain, if sent to a proper teacher 
while young, would be worth much more than the 
little extra expense of a good school. Thus it would 
be much the cheapest for parents to engage the ser- 
vices of teachers who have prepared themselves for 
their profession. 

In the third place, qualified teachers, who would 
be able to govern correctly, and facilitate the pro- 
gress of children, would save the parent much ex- 
pense in books, paper, maps, slates, 8fC. The 
school stationery of a large family amounts to a con- 
siderable item in the course of a year. Parents 
know that these incidental expenses are quite a tax; 
and every one would be glad to have them less. 
Now, the more rapid the improvement in writing, 
the smaller the quantity of paper, pens, and ink, 
which the child will require ; the faster the scholar 
learns to read, the fewer the books which will be 
necessary ; and the quicker the pupils learn their 
geography and arithmetic, the less the expense of 
maps, slates, &c. 

Thus teachers, who could facilitate the progress 
of the scholars, would save the parent much expense 
in the stationery of the school-room ; and hence the 
parent's interest would be promoted by employing 
teachers whose wages must be higher indeed, but 
whose qualifications would be such, that they would 
always be found the cheapest. 

Lastly, (and this every one will think a very im- 
portant consideration,) teachers who have prepared 
themselves for their profession are the most profita- 
ble for parents to employ, because they will then 



120 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

know that their children zvill be well educated. 
This confidence in the instructer will prevent much 
care and anxiety on the part of the parent. Chil- 
dren are forming a character every moment ; and 
their education, of some kind or other, is constantly 
going on ; this parents know, and it gives them great 
pleasure to reflect, that their offspring are directed 
by the skilful, moral influence of a fit teacher. It 
likewise gives the parents pleasure to reflect that 
their children's progress in knowledge is thorough 
and useful. 

With a cheap, unqualified teacher, the pupils spend 
most of their valuable time in learning what they 
must some day or other unlearn, if they ever make 
studious, correct scholars. Parents frequently pay 
cheap instructers more for teaching their children 
what is wrong or useless, or must be forgotten, than 
would be necessary to give them a good knowledge 
of elementary studies, under a suitable teacher. 
This useless expense, bad instruction, and slow pro- 
gress, would never occur to give the parent distress 
and anxiety, if a faithful, confidential teacher was 
always engaged. But all these evils the parent must 
expect, if he is penurious and short-sighted enough 
to hire a cheap, worthless schoolmaster. 

Again, it is common for parents to have not a 
little trouble in persuading their children to go to 
school. Now this unwillingness to attend school, 
manifested by the child, does not arise from its dis- 
like to study, but from the parents having placed an 
ignorant, repulsive man in the school-house. The 
whole exercises of the school are made so unpleasant 
and disagreeable, that the pupil heartily hates know- 
ledge, and every place ivhere it is taught. 

It would save children much unhappiness, and 
parents much labour, if an engaging, accomplished 
teacher was employed ; one who would make the 
school-room the most delightful and profitable room 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 121 

they could ever enter. But before men can under- 
stand the operations of the youthful mind, and im- 
part useful knowledge in an attractive, simple man- 
ner, they must be well educated, and well instructed 
in the art of teaching ; and this will not be, until 
parents reflect, and perceive, that it is for their 
interest to pay wages which will induce men to 
make the necessary preparations. 

If parents would increase the teacher's wages, 
they ivoulcl raise the character of the profession. 
The compensation for teaching is so small, that ac- 
complished, well-educated men can find other em- 
ployments much more profitable than teaching, 
Thus, those who would become useful ihstructers, 
and an honour to the profession, are excluded, unless 
some of these men are willing to make a sacrifice ; 
and our school-houses are left to be supplied by the 
necessitous and unqualified. 

Indolent, immoral, and ignorant men .are often 
employed to teach our common schools : these dis- 
grace the calling, and have made the saying, "as 
lazy and conceited as a schoolmaster," familiar every- 
where. Now, what is it that draws into our schools 
the worthless, and excludes the worthy ? What is it 
that prevents men from becoming capable teachers ? 
What is it that makes teaching disreputable ? Pa- 
rents, is it not your sordid avarice, your own short- 
sightedness, and your cruelty to your own children ? 
By offering an adequate compensation to teachers, 
you could demand learning, talent, and elegance. 

By a highminded, generous attention to your 
children's education, you may make the profession 
of teaching take an equal rank in usefulness and 
respectability with the lawyer's and the divine's. 

YOU MAY MAKE OUR LITERARY MEN FEEL IT 
THEIR HIGHEST AMBITION TO BECOME GOOD SCHOOL- 
MASTERS. The honour of the profession of teach- 
ing rests with you ; you can continue its low con- 

Xu 



122 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

dition, or you may raise it to honour and respect- 
ability. 

Parents cannot receive the advantages of the 
school system, unless they employ qualified teach- 
ers. Legislation in many of the states has done 
much for the education of children. Large school 
funds have been raised to assist the parents, and a 
liberal system has been organized to give union of 
action and instruction to the inhabitants of every 
district. Through the vigilance of the public offi- 
cers, these princely funds may have an equitable 
distribution ; and the school system be put in active 
operation. 

The wisdom of legislation, the watchfulness and 
counsel of learning and talent, are ready to assist and 
protect our schools. The great thing that is wanting 
is the co-operation oj 'parents. Unless parents are 
willing to unite their efforts with legislation and 
official counsel, they will receive but little aid from 
the government. Great assistance, indeed, may be 
had from the school fund and the school system, if 
parents will make this active, liberal co-operation ; 
but without this obligatory exertion on the part of 
parents, the state can do them but little good. 

It is to be regretted that so great a part of the 
school fund is lost by being squandered on unquali- 
fied schoolmasters. Parents, by hiring such teach- 
ers, pervert the benevolence of the state, and exclude 
themselves from those advantages which the govern- 
ment wishes to give them. If the funds were be- 
stowed on worthy, well-qualified teachers, the in- 
habitants of the district would be greatly assisted, 
and the spirit and intention of the school law would 
be fully answered. 

But the public funds are lost when they support 
men who are rather an injury to the schools than a 
benefit ; and the parents voluntarily deprive them- 
selves of that aid which is so generously offered to 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 123 

all. We do hope that parents hereafter will feel 
unwilling to pervert the government funds by 
squandering them on unworthy, incompetent teach- 
ers ; and that they will be disposed to receive the 
advantages of these funds by engaging such teachers 
as the law intended the funds should support.* 

And finally, to employ well-qualified teachers 
is the only ivay for parents to increase the use- 
fulness and raise the character of district schools. 
Parents may employ men to recommend the best 
systems of government, and the best methods of 
teaching ; and they may purchase the most improved 
school books for their children ; they may be atten- 
tive to their children's education at home ; and they 
may do all that can be done, and after all, if there is 
an unfaithful, disqualified teacher in the school- 
house, all that is done, is lost, worse than lost ; for 
they have given their children the means of per- 
verting privileges, of learning error, and of confirm- 
ing bad habits. 

Let me, then, again say to parents, if you would 
act according to your own interest, even in a pecu- 
niary point ; if you would encourage young men to 
qualify themselves for teaching ; if you would have 
your children well educated ; if you would have 
them love knowledge ; if you would raise the cha- 
racter of the teacher's profession ; if you would 
make it the highest ambition of literary men to 
become good schoolmasters ; if you would receive 
the advantages of the school system, and obey the 
spirit of the school act, be willing to give such w T ages 
as will secure the services of faithful, ivell-quali- 
fied teachers. 

* The excellence of a school depends entirely upon the 
master; the choice of the master is therefore a matter of the 
first importance. — Cousin's Report. 



124 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

SECTION XL 

A TEACHER SHOULD MAKE HIS SCHOOL PLEASANT. 

Children and youth are governed almost entirely 
by their feelings. They are controlled neither by 
the reason of maturer years, nor the habits of ad- 
vanced age. With the young, all is freshness and 
curiosity : and nothing is so likely to interest them 
as novelty and change. A teacher who has not only 
to govern his scholars, but to interest them, who 
must amuse as well as instruct, should understand 
the motives and principles of action in the youth- 
ful mind, that he may be able to rouse it into acti- 
vity, and also to give it its proper direction. 

Something new will always please and excite the 
youthful mind. This truth the teacher may take 
advantage of, to awaken dulness and indifference : 
bat he must, however, guard against the love of 
novelty, that he may form habits of fixing the atten- 
tion on some one subject till the mind has mastered 
it. And here teachers find some perplexity. The 
scholars become impatient, before they are thorough. 

The teacher wishes to continue the interest, and 
to please his pupils by letting them advance, but 
knows that it is for their good (although he is unable 
to convince them of it) to make slower progress. 
He will have to put a strong check upon this ardent 
passion for something new, and yet give it sufficient 
latitude to keep up a deep exciting interest. To 
preserve the mind in this proper balance requires 
nice observation, much ingenuity, and close reflec- 
tion. 

Those who are under the government of their 
feelings are greatly influenced by Jirst impressions. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 125 

The teacher should be careful to have these favour- 
able. His first appearance among the pupils should 
be winning and friendly. If he should be ill-natured 
and repulsive at first, it will take a long time to 
eradicate the unfavourable opinions. The teacher 
ought to meet his scholars with a smile, and convince 
them that he feels a deep interest in their improve- 
ment and happiness. He should not at first repel 
them by instantaneous harshness and severity. 

If a teacher loves his school, he will make it 
pleasant ; if the duties are a source of enjoyment to 
him, his government and instruction will be likely 
to please his pupils. If he looks pleasant, the scho- 
lars will. I know of nothing that will produce this 
kindness, attention, and good-nature in the teacher, 
but a sincere love for his employment. Men are 
generally agreeable and efficient when they labour 
where they feel an interest and a delight ; and, on 
the contrary, disagreeable and inefficient in stations 
which they do not like. 

No one should teach except he can sympathize 
with his pupils, and feel happy in his duties. He 
should be free with his scholars, but not trifling — 
easy, but not familiar — sociable, without levity — a 
companion, and yet a respected teacher, and a be- 
loved ruler. He should possess dignity, without 
stiffness or affectation, and be disposed to temper 
justice with mercy, and duty with love. 

The teacher, to make his school pleasant, should 
strive to create friendship and good-will among 
his scholars. The members of the school must 
meet each other every day, and spend the greater 
part of their time in each* other's society. In this 
close and constant intercourse, the bad feelings will 
be frequently aroused, and it will be necessary to 
have a large share of good-nature and a forgiving 
spirit to prevent strife and hatred from rendering the 
school association, a nourisher of the evil passions. 
L 2 



126 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

It is the teacher's duty to suppress the unhappy, 
destructive passions, and to cultivate the sociable 
and the benevolent. He can perform this duty by 
producing love and friendship among his pupils 
while they are associated during the hours of school. 
It is said that the seed of evil and good are planted 
by schoolmasters and mothers. Their negligence 
sows many of those that are evil. 

I think that it will not be doubted that many of 
the most malignant passions of men sprang up, and 
received the most fearful strength in the broils and 
quarrels with schoolmates. How necessary is it, 
then, that the teacher should keep a watchful eye 
over the intercourse of his pupils, and exert all his 
powers in preventing the exercise of the selfish na- 
ture, and in developing and strengthening the social 
and benevolent feelings. 

But very few teachers perceive the influence 
which scholars have upon each other ; and many, 
very many, are altogether indifferent respecting the 
nature of this influence, whether it. be good or bad. 
From this negligence and indifference in teachers, 
the growth of the evil passions more than counter- 
balances the benefit of the best instructions. But, 
if the teacher is disposed, he has the opportunity, 
while strengthening the mind and furnishing it with 
knowledge, of cultivating the social and moral nature 
of his scholars ; and this to such an extent as to give 
them governing feelings and principles for life. 

His school is the world in miniature ; the same 
fears and hopes, prejudices and partialities, passions 
and strifes, ascendency and submission that we see 
in the greater world. Thus the teacher has the 
opportunity for preparing his pupils for that more 
extended sphere of life which will call into action 
the same feelings which were exercised in the more 
limited. 

He may, by regulating his scholars' intercourse 



v 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 127 

with each other, fit them for becoming useful, ho- 
noured members of society, or for destroying the 
peace and happiness of others, by the exercise of 
those appetites and passions which his negligence 
permitted to acquire strength and grow while at 
school. Let him, then, labour to make his scholars 
love each other ; and to feel that they were made 
social beings for the purpose of making each other 
happy. 

The teacher can render his school pleasant, by 
making the acquisition of knowledge the means 
of happiness. The young mind is delighted with 
the discovery of something new ; and it has plea- 
sure in mere action, independent of the knowledge 
which this action secures. The very labour neces- 
sary to obtain knowledge, if properly directed, will 
afford enjoyment to the mind. The teacher, then, 
should take advantage of this love of action, and 
this desire of knowledge, and make them assist in 
rendering his school agreeable. 

I know of no higher enjoyment to the mind, than 
its own exercise in finding out new truths. The. 
reason that study is made such a task, and the exer- 
cises of the school become so irksome, is, the efforts 
of learners are improperly directed, and the instruc- 
tions of the teacher ill adapted. The scholars per- 
ceive no certainty, nothing definite nor distinct ; they 
know not that they make any advance or any dis- 
covery. They make nothing their own. 

The teacher's instructions are not understood, or 
are not of the right kind for the age and attainments 
of the pupil, and consequently possess no interest. 
Hence the dislike which children and youth have 
for study. But the mind was made to love know- 
ledge as much as the eye loves light, or the lungs 
air, or the stomach food. And the mind has a much 
more exquisite relish in acquiring knowledge than 
the sense of taste has in preparing food for the 



128 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

stomach. The mind loathes knowledge sometimes, 
because it is offered in an unpleasant manner ; just 
as the palate loathes food that has been badly cooked. 

But when the teacher prepares the mind for the 
reception of truth, and then instructs according to 
the natural relations between mind and knowledge, 
the scholar will ask for no higher delight than that 
which he finds in his lesson. How often have I 
seen the countenances of children beam with inte- 
rest, and speak with eloquence, the gladness of their 
hearts when something new had been related. It is 
a pleasure beyond all other pleasures to instruct the 
young mind in such a state. 

And I know of no labour which affords so much 
happiness as that of the teacher's, if he is only pre- 
pared for his business, and loves it. And I know 
of no place that may be made happier than the 
school-room, if the scholars study rightly and are 
properly instructed. The mind is so formed that 
the teacher may make the acquisition of knowledge 
the highest and most ennobling enjoyment that the 
scholar is capable of receiving. 

He may thus make the school-room the most de- 
sirable spot that the children visit ; and their school 
exercises the most pleasant and agreeable of any that 
they engage in. I know that many teachers are so 
disqualified, and the systems of instruction so de- 
fective, that but few scholars are blessed with this 
skilful and happy treatment ; but this does not dis- 
prove the assertion. We think that whoever will 
study the nature of the mind, and perceive the rela- 
tions between it and truth, will acknowledge what 
we have said to be true. If teachers are sceptical, 
I shall only solicit that they make the experiment. 

A teacher may make his school pleasant by 
timely and agreeable recreations. The mind 
(and particularly the youthful mind) needs relief 
after close application, even if it should continue 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 129 

but a short time. If this relief is afforded in the 
way of innocent amusement,. it brings to the mind a 
pleasure that it never receives from uniform thought- 
lessness. There is pleasure in mental exercise ; and 
there is pleasure, too, in refreshing the mind with 
proper diversions. 

The teacher should study the abilities of the mind, 
that he may know when it is weary with effort, and 
when to afford it amusement by relaxation. There 
is exquisite happiness in unbending the mind after 
severe application ; and the teacher who understands 
human nature will take advantage cf this principle 
of the mind, and make it one of the agreeable exer- 
cises of the school. He will connect with the school, 
not only the labour and the toil, but also the amuse- 
ment and the rest. 

Many teachers mistake, and make their scholars 
uneasy and unhappy by requiring them to remain 
too long in one position, or over a particular lesson 
in which they can feel no interest. Action, and 
almost continual action, seems natural to the young ; 
but teachers forget this principle, and compel their 
scholars to do violence to their nature. This makes 
them restive ; and if not allowed open action, they 
will gratify this propensity by sly, deceitful manoeu- 
vres. 

Proper and timely diversion would prevent this 
secret mischief, which, if detected, will be followed 
by punishment ; and it would likewise prevent that 
listlessness and sleepiness which is so epidemic in 
primary schools. The teacher should see that the 
play exercises of his pupils are of a proper character 
and agreeable. It not unfrequently happens that 
the larger boys, to show their strength, or gratify 
their love of tyranny, intrude upon the rights and 
pleasures of the smaller ones, and spoil their sports, 
and make the condition of the weaker very uncom- 
fortable 



130 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

The teacher should know that each one has his 
rights and his share in the sport. Many who are 
awkward or bashful, or perhaps not quite so sprightly 
as others, have been shunned or abused till their 
spirits are broken, and their feelings imbittered 
against every thing connected with the school. 
Such the teacher should take by the hand, and show 
them that protection and tenderness which their 
misfortune- demands. They may thus be saved, 
and made, perhaps, the brightest ornaments of so- 
ciety. The teacher should always be solicitous that 
the hours of recreation be spent in such a manner 
that every one shall be pleased. 

The teacher may make his school pleasant by 
simplifying the studies, and by presenting his 
instructions in an attractive form. Scholars soon 
acquire a disrelish for their studies, and a dislike to 
the duties of the school, if their lessons appear blind 
and unintelligible. If their studies are above the 
comprehension, they will be a task only to weary 
and puzzle the mind, and in the end cause the 
scholar to hate knowledge, and all the means by 
which it is attained. 

That this is too often the case is the reason why 
scholars " go tardily to school." Also, when the 
teacher renders assistance, his manners may be so 
unpleasant that the scholar will hate instruction, 
because he has been offended by the instructer ; or, 
perhaps, the teacher performs his duties as a me- 
chanical task, perfectly indifferent to the interest of 
the school. 

If this is the case, the scholar will of course sup- 
pose that there is no pleasure to be found in the 
school-room. But if the studies are made plain and 
intelligible, (which, from the present imperfection 
in school-books, must be the work of the teacher,) 
and the manners of the teacher affectionate and 
winning, the school-room and its duties will present 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 131 

to the pupils the highest kind of enjoyment, and 
cause them to estimate the worth of their school 
privileges according to their proper value. 

Children beg to stay away from school, and re- 
joice when they have passed beyond their school- 
days, because they always felt miserable when under 
the requirements of the teacher. The school-room 
was made a place of involuntary confinement, and 
its duties the worst kind of chains. No wonder that 
children incur correction twice a day by indolence 
or by playing truant ; but the teacher may change 
this unhappy state of things, and make the pupils as 
eager to meet, as they are now to shun him. He 
may make the children plead to go to the school, 
instead of running truant when they have been sent. 

The teacher should obtain the love and confi- 
dence of his schola?*s. Without these, his labours 
will be very disagreeable, and almost useless. If he 
does not possess these, the scholars will take every 
advantage, and render the teacher's labours doubly 
arduous. The teacher will find no requital for his 
efforts and anxieties, so pleasing and acceptable as 
the love and confidence of his scholars ; and they 
will lighten his burden more than any thing else. 
The scholars, too, are pleased when they can carry 
their troubles and their difficulties to one they love, 
and possesses their confidence. 

Scholars want some one to answer their questions; 
and it is always gratifying to receive light on those 
subjects about which the mind is in doubt. The 
teacher, then, who has the confidence of his pupils, 
can make them attached to him by enlightening 
their ignorance and gratifying their curiosity. The 
teacher should convince his pupils that he is their 
friend — that his instructions may be made their 
greatest blessing ; and that he heartily wishes to 
improve their minds and purify their hearts. 

He should convince them that the cultivation of 



132 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

the mind, and the practice of virtue, are the only 
things that can make them ornaments and blessings 
to society ; and he should show them that their 
school privileges are for this purpose. If he is suc- 
cessful in this, he will make them love the school 
and its teacher. It should be the constant aim and 
object of the instructer to make learning pleasing 
.and useful, and his school attractive and agreeable. 
He should love his profession, and strive to make 
every one happy that may be committed to his care. 



SECTION XII. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING SPELLING AND 
READING. 

Children may be taught the names of the letters 
soon after they are able to pronounce them. The 
names of these signs or characters may be learned 
by the infant mind as soon as it learns the names 
of its parents, its pictures, its toys, or the name of 
the cat or the dog. The child commences acting 
and learning from the first moment of its existence, 
and soon acquires a knowledge of the names and 
some of the qualities of the objects with which it 
comes in contact. 

If infants could have the letters in large size on 
strips or blocks of pasteboard, or on some small 
articles which they might be permitted to handle, 
and which might be presented in connexion with 
pictures of animals, they would soon learn and pro- 
nounce the names of the letters, in the same way 
that they learn and pronounce the names of any of 
the signs or objects they first meet with. Thus, by 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 



parent or child. tlme on th ^ part of the 

The letters are UarnaA * 

task, (which is ai ; a ;r ' °°' no i a * an ^p^ smt 

and child if not i \ Case bofh with teacher 
**Ne exercise S^tis" *'^ but as a d - 
of exercising tl le ir little or^lJ 6 " k ",° wn ' ar e fond 
are pleased with thet g -.P eech > and parents 
always heard ZZf"^ efforts, and are 
the d e li ghted little ^ ^ "T^" be re P eated 5 
manifest pleasure in Si^ ^""S chi,d ™ 
MW*S f ° r their •£doi flW ° b J ects -h-h may 
tow, the names which n, Q 
teach the child to ar&i £ ^T P^ounces to 
the letters of the alphab el T 7 be the names of 
which are selected to hnf ' amon 8 the objects 

be the letters of th ° 2bef Tf h > chi,d > C 
rents would find that what is Li * blS Were s °> Pa- 
earned, as it were, mlmsihl T^l *° know was 
taught without labour % ^ Wlth de %ht, and 

Jt this is not done h^ ti,„ 
Parent, and the child is sent to e ", e 8 1, .«? nt or absent 
alphabet, the teacher n av I fn ?,' ,gnorant of its 
days, and in a pleasant ^ tbe task in a few 

different one sft^ though in a ve^ 
"> our eo mm on school Thfn, F" Ua ? U J ado Pted 
"S children their letters i to i m \ thod ° f teach " 
the s,de of the master t S , ke them st and by 

J>-eh,E-eh,and sTott'o ft e ?I tf ' B " eb > C ' e 'h 
hut three or four times a day T^, r ° W ' at mos t 
four children by the side «fti here are *"» or 

pose o( say ins lZ tfe r ttsTuf''' f ° r the P Ur " 
to look on at the same time l"'tr ° ne,S re 1 uir ed 
spend from three to fo r mon h T y > chi,dren 
letters of the alphabet hs ln Iearnin g the 



134 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

One mode of teaching children their letters, which 
has always been found pleasant and successful, is, 
holding up in the sight of all the children two or 
three letters of considerable size, and whose union 
spells the name of some familiar object. For ex- 
ample, let the letters X, standing under the picture 
of an ox, be shown to the children. The names of 
the letters are pronounced by the teacher, and by 
the children in concert after him. When the names 
of these two signs are known to the children, the 
teacher may tell them a story about the ox. 

By being interested with the idea which the 
letters are connected with, it will be almost certain 
that the children remember their names. The two 
letters may then be given to each of the children, 
who return to their seats, pleased with the signs 
which have been connected with such a pleasing 
idea or story. After a suitable interval the teacher 
may examine them, and if the names of the letters 
are remembered, they may be taken away, with a 
promise of showing them others, in connexion with 
a picture and a story, in a short time. 

The teacher again asks the attention of the chil- 
dren, and shows them the three letters b, o, y ; one 
of them the same they had in the first lesson, that 
he may try the memory. The picture of a boy is 
seen over the letters ; and after the children have 
learned the names of the two signs b, y, the teacher 
relates a story of a little boy he once knew or heard 
of. The children return to their seats with the two 
letters b, and y. 

This method of teaching the alphabet demands 
but a few moments of time from the teacher, and 
makes the employment delightful to himself, for he 
sees the young minds before him taking their first 
steps in knowledge, and at the same time their little 
features lighted up with joy in their new enterprise. 
In one week's time he may make every child fa- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 135 

miliar with all its letters. How much time, labour, 
impatience, and compulsion on the part of the teach- 
er, and dislike, fretting, and hatred on the part of 
the pupil might be saved, if instructers would permit 
children to obtain knowledge in school in the same 
manner that Nature teaches them out oZ it! 

After the child is able to give the name without 
hesitation to each letter in the alphabet, it should 
begin to learn the powers of letters, when united in 
syllables. Here teachers and scholars find difficulty; 
and here many errors and bad habits, which go with 
the child in all its after-studies and performances, 
take their origin. The powers of letters change 
with their connexion and position. From this cir- 
cumstance many of the letters have several sounds, 
and some of them more than one hundred different, 
distinct sounds or powers. 

The child cannot perceive this great variety, nor 
give to the letters of the syllable those particular 
sounds, which their connexion or position, or the 
arbitrary standard of pronunciation, may require. 
This can be done only after long study — after much 
attention to the etymology of the language ; yet to 
some degree the child is required to do this when 
it knows merely the names of the letters. 

The difficulty is in distinguishing and placing 
these different sounds. The child sees that the let- 
ters, by being brought together in syllables, have 
changed their names ; for to the child the name of 
the letter is its sound. To obviate this difficulty, 
and to take away this uncertainty in the mind of the 
child respecting the correct sound of the letter it 
may be pronouncing, teachers should select a number 
of dissyllables, in each of which the letters have the 
same sound. 

When the child has learned to pronounce these, 
it has acquired one of the powers of these letters. 
After this, syllables of three and four letters may be 



136 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

spelled and pronounced by the child. The letters 
of these syllables should have the same powers they 
formerly had when standing in dissyllables. The 
pupil will find these words easy and uniform. After 
a proper time is spent on these simple lessons, let 
syllables be given to the child, where some of the 
letters have a different power. 

When the pupil has learned some of the most 
simple and common powers of the letters, when 
united into syllables, let him unite these syllables 
and form words. In forming words, many teachers 
permit a serious and lasting error. Children are 
allowed to call the names of the letters, without 
dividing the word into syllables, and pronouncing 
each syllable as it proceeds. The child is not better 
qualified to pronounce the word after it has named 
the letters, without dividing them into syllables and 
pronouncing them, than it was when uttering the 
first letter of the word. 

The habit of naming the letters without pronounc- 
ing the syllables and uniting them as the pupil 
proceeds through the word, disqualifies the pupils 
from making any use of their knowledge of spelling, 
or of helping themselves at any time in ascertaining 
the correct pronunciation of a strange or large word. 
If children were accustomed to exercise their inge- 
nuity in dividing the word into syllables, and to 
give the proper pronunciation to these syllables, 
they would seldom find any difficulty with strange 
or long words ; but if they are permitted to pass 
through the word, and only name its letters, they 
will make little or no real progress, but confirm the 
worst of all habits. 

How seldom do we find a teacher who does not 
permit this evil ! I do not know when I have 
heard a child read who has in this thing been cor- 
rectly taught. By allowing this error, the teacher 
greatly increases his own labour ; for the pupil must 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 137 

be constantly assisted — he cannot help himself, but 
is as dependent on others for the sound of the word 
as if he had never learned the letters. 

There is another error in our schools which is 
the cause of so much bad spelling in the business 
of after-life. The error is in learning and correct- 
ing with one sense what in nature and practice be- 
longs to another sense. Children in school correct 
their spelling by the sense of hearing. The teacher 
pronounces the word, and from the sound the pupils 
are required to spell it. After the ear has been 
trained for a number of years in this way, the pupil 
will spell nearly every word which his teacher gives 
him ; yet this very same pupil, when at home, 
writing a letter to some friend, will spell almost 
every word wrong. 

Now, what is the reason of this accuracy in one 
place and incorrectness in the other. It is this, 
when at home the words appear, not through the 
sense of hearing, (the sense which has been educated, 
and always applied to as the corrective,) but through 
the sense of seeing. The pupil has not been accus- 
tomed to judge whether words are spelled correctly 
or not by their appearance on paper ; and the false 
spelling, not coming under the trial of the ear, 
escapes the unskilful observance of the eye. 

The origin of the evil being discovered, it remains 
that we apply a remedy. Let the pupils, while 
receiving the words from the teacher, write them out 
on slates. After a number of words are given and 
written out, let the pupils interchange slates, and 
examine and correct each other's spelling. By this 
method the sense of seeing is educated and made a 
judge. The eye has the words before it — sees their 
appearance when incorrectly spelled and their just 
and natural appearance when rightly spelled. This 
same office the eye would be ready and able to per- 
m 2 



138 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

form when at home writing a letter to a friend, and 
bad spelling would be detected. 

The teacher should confine his pupils but a short 
time to words marshalled into ranks, as they stand 
in the columns of the spelling-book, without con- 
veying one idea, or any meaning whatever. There 
is too much mere verbiage in our district schools.* 
Children are confined to these unmeaning, uncon- 
nected words for two or three years. Teachers 
should see the folly and the tyranny of this ; they 
have seen the difficulty ; for it is with great labour 
that they keep the minds of the pupils on their 
lessons. 

As soon as children have learned some of the 
powers of letters, and have some facility and cor- 
rectness in joining syllables into words, they should 
be permitted to read easy sentences. These sen- 
tences should be composed of words of one or two 
syllables, and contain a familiar and pleasing idea. 
Now, for the first time, the child begins to feel 

* Having worse than lost five or six years in the nursery, 
— having passed the practicable season of moral training, with 
all our natural faults about us, tempers unregulated, pride and 
vanity decidedly pampered, and selfishness aggravated, we 
were sent to school to learn to read. That there is some 
improvement in schools, it would be great injustice not to ac- 
knowledge ; but few adults can say that more than mere read- 
ing was in their first school instruction vouchsafed to them. 
Even yetno attempt is made to direct aright the natural appe- 
tite of the young to know. Reading is a useful instrument 
of knowledge, but it is gross ignorance to call it knowledge 
itself. Even at an age earlier than that of our " English 
school," the faculties ardently crave their natural food — know- 
ledge. The infant purveys, in some degree, for itself, to the 
great reproach of its unenlightened instructers. At school, 
these knowledge-craving faculties have little or nothing done 
for them ; on the contrary, their natural neglect of the school- 
book, the result of their preference of something else much 
more instructive as well as delightful, was punished as idle- 
ness and frivolity ; and we left our first school as we went to 
it, with scarcely any addition to our knowledge. — Simpson, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 139 

pleased with its studies : all before this has been 
unintelligible signs and combinations of signs. But 
now it finds these signs conductors of thought — 
of something that instructs and pleases. The child 
is now gratified with its book ; for the book has an 
interest within itself sufficient to draw and fix the 
attention. 

At present there are a few books which are sim- 
ple without being silly, and well adapted to children. 
These should be put into their hands. After the 
pupils are familiar with the language and contents 
of these books, others containing sentences more 
complicated, and words composed of a greater num- 
ber of syllables, should be given to them. 

This is far from being the case in our common 
schools. The universal practice in these neglected 
places of learning is in the first place to keep the 
child fastened to unmeaning words for two or three 
years, and then to put books into his hands which 
a graduate of one of our colleges can scarcely under- 
stand, and perhaps, is not sufficiently learned to appre- 
ciate. When the child can pronounce words of two 
syllables without spelling them, it is put into the 
" English Reader." A fit book for a literary man, 
but entirely unfit for children. 

If the pupils at this stage of learning are not so 
fortunate as to be exalted into this " class of honour," 
they are privileged by reading in the back part of 
the spelling-book, or in the Columbian Orator; 
reading equally as unintelligible as that in the Eng- 
lish Reader. Thus the child, from the time it com- 
mences going to school till its parents require its 
constant labour al home, spells and reads, writes 
and rehearses words, and sentences of words, and 
whole volumes of words, without even thinking of 
obtaining one clear, distinct, useful idea from them. 

The child never thinks of being questioned about 
that which it has just read. If a question of this 



140 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

nature should be put, the reader would be as in- 
capable of answering as he would be after reading 
hieroglyphics. The pupil at school does not sup- 
pose that books are read because they have a mean- 
ing either to amuse or to instruct, but because they 
have words to be pronounced and sentences to be 
cadenced or emphasized. His whole aim conse- 
quently is, not to find out the meaning of what he 
reads, but to finish his verse without " missing a 
word." 

Here we discover the cause of so many blunder- 
ing, unnatural, unaffecting readers. Imagine the 
effect of reading what we did not understand for 
even one week upon ourselves. It would unfit us 
for any impressiveness, either in tone or emphasis. 
But the youth in our schools are brought up, from 
infancy till the time they " finish their education," 
to read what they are not required, or even expected, 
to comprehend. 

It is no wonder that the tone of voice is so un- 
suitable to the sentiment, the emphasis so improperly 
placed, and the whole manner so artificial and un- 
natural. We do think that nearly all of the bad 
habits which we are obliged to witness and excuse, 
both in private and public readers, proceed from this 
mechanical, indolent practice of reading during our 
childhood and youth what we do not understand.* 

If this be so, and we think no one who will go 
into our schools and question the scholars concern- 

* Hitherto education has been conducted too much on the 
principle of looking at the world only out of the window of 
the school and the college, and teaching the names of the 
beings and things therein contained, in a variety of languages, 
to the neglect of the study of the beings and things themselves ; 
whereas man, as a creature destined for action, fitted to con- 
trol nature to some extent, and, beyond this, left to accommo- 
date his conduct to its course, requires positive knowledge of 
creation, its elements and laws, and has little use for words 
which go beyond the stock of his ideas. — Combe's Lectures. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 141 

ing that which they have just read will doubt it, we 
have found the cause of that defective reading which 
so often offends the hearers and disgraces the read- 
ers. We say, then, never let children or youth read 
what they do not comprehend, or that in which they 
feel no interest. Let books be put into their hands 
which are level with their capacities. 

Such as contain information which may be gratify- 
ing for them to receive ; books which treat of sub- 
jects with which it will be useful for them to become 
acquainted ; and such that have motives sufficient 
within themselves to make the young eager to 
peruse them. Let an instructive story be told in a 
simple, chaste, forcible style ; or some of Nature's 
handiworks be described in a plain, natural, and 
speaking language ; or the application of some of 
the sciences to the practical purposes of life, illus- 
trated in a simple, clear, intelligent manner ; or the 
biography of some exemplary youth ; or any proper 
subject whatever, which children and youth can 
sympathize with and feel a lively interest in. 

If our school-books were of this nature, we should 
hear but very little bad reading. Who of us ever 
thinks of correcting a child in its pauses, emphasis, 
or tones of voice, when we hear it in animated con- 
versation with one of its playmates ? Let the child 
read luhat it can understand and feel an interest 
in, and it will read as correctly as it converses. 

We say then, again, (for we do think this great 
evil of compelling children to pronounce words for 
years, to which they attach no kind of meaning 
whatever, too much neglected,) never let children 
read what they do not understand. If there are 
words in the lesson of which they do not know the 
meaning, let the dictionary, or the attached glossary, 
or the teacher define them. Never let the young 
reader pronounce a word without perceiving the 
meaning the author attached to it. 



142 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

The teacher should frequently question his read- 
ing class on what has just been read, that he may- 
know how far they hav T e comprehended their author, 
and ascertain what meaning they connect with the 
individual words. If we should ask adults, and 
even liberally educated men, to define some words 
of the most common use, they would hesitate, and 
probably be unable to give any thing like a correct 
definition. In this, the systems of instruction in all 
of our literary institutions are miserably defective. 

Educated men are in the constant habit of using 
words to which they attach a connective meaning 
indeed obtained from usage, but to which they would 
be unable to give a concise, correct definition. This 
evil is universal in our primary schools, and is seen 
to a greater or less extent in all our higher institu- 
tions up to the professional college. It is no wonder 
that men make such an improper choice of words, 
that they use so many which are equivocal, and 
that they are so frequently misunderstood. Their 
ignorance of the correct meaning of words does not 
permit them to select such as express what they 
intend to communicate.* 

* The term " educated class," as applied to the portion of 
our countrymen who are above manual labour, will scarcely 
be taken by any one to mean that they enjoy the means of 
education perfect, or nearly perfect. The term is relative, and 
certainly when compared with the manual-labour class, who 
have no education at all worthy the name, we are an educated 
class. But no error is more profound, or more prevalent, than 
the persuasion that we are an educated class in the best sense 
of the term. Our complacent conclusions on the subject are, 
however, exceedingly natural. Look, it is said, at our libra- 
ries, our encyclopedias, teeming, as they do, with knowledge 
in every branch of science and literature. See our chemical, 
mathematical, mechanical powers, with all their realized re- 
sults, which seem to mould material nature to our will and 
render life proudly luxurious. Then turn to our classical 
literature, our belles lettres, our poetry, our eloquence, our 
polished intercourse, our refined society; consider our fine arts 
and elegancies; and, above all, think of our legislation, our 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 143 

There is in our district schools another bad prac- 
tice which gives almost every scholar very unnatural 
and disagreeable habits. I refer to that high, uni- 
form pitch of voice which the young reader is sure 
to strike into. I do not remember that I ever 
heard a child read in a natural, conversational tone 
of voice. This is a great defect ; teachers should be 
careful to have their pupils read in natural tones, 
and to have them varied according to the sentiment. 
Teachers seldom pay attention to articulation , and 
the consequence is, that but very few articulate 
well. It is very rarely that we hear a reader or 
speaker give each letter of the word its full sound. 
Frequently one-half of the word is dropped, or 
clipped, or inaudibly uttered. This defect in articu- 
lation keeps the mind constantly directed to the 
words, that it may make out what they are, and the 
attention is diverted from the subject. This prac- 
tice is also very unpleasant to the ear. Teachers 
should make their pupils give each letter and sylla- 
ble its distinct, full sound. When this is done, 
there is a force and meaning in the word which is 
never given when half uttered. 

political economy, our institutions of benevolence and justice, 
and the gigantic combinations of our entire national system. 
There is much in these high-sounding claims that deceive us. 
We are prone to borrow from the large fund of credit we pos- 
sess in the exact and physical sciences, to place the loan to 
the account of universal intellectual and moral attainment, and 
to conclude that a pitch of improvement, which enables us to 
travel thirty miles an hour, must comprise in it every thing 
else of knowledge and power. But, alas ! when we look be- 
yond the range of physical tangibilities, and, it may be, ele- 
gant literature, into the region of mental and moral relations, 
in short the science of man, upon which depend the wisdom 
of our legislation, and the soundness of our institutions and 
customs, what a scene of uncertainty do we see! Fixed prin- 
ciples in social affairs have not yet been attained. Scarcely 
shall we meet two individuals who are guided by the same 
code. Hence controversy is the business of the moral, and 
assuredly, we may add, of the religious world." — Simpson, 



144 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

If I was asked what rules I would give to the 
children of our common schools that they might 
learn to read with ease, correctness, and impressive- 
ness, I would say, only three, and these are very 
simple ones. I would not explain the philosophy 
of the human voice; nor speak of emphasis, inflexion, 
or cadence; neither of pauses, accents, or intonations. 
But I would say, and I think it is all that is neces- 
sary to be said, comprehend what you read, — read 
in a natural, conversational tone of voice, and 
read often. If teachers will see that their pupils 
practise these three plain rules, they will have the 
pleasure of hearing good readers. 



SECTION XIII. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING WRITING. 

It is to be regretted that our district schools fur- 
nish so small a number of good writers. But a very 
few who are now practising this art in our district 
schools will be able to execute a free, bold, and 
legible hand. The greater part, including almost 
the whole, will number their school-days and still 
write with a stiff, measured, ragged, scrawling, 
blotting hand ; scarcely legible to the writers them- 
selves, and almost impossible for any one else to 
make out what is intended. The youth are con- 
scious of their deficiencies with the pen, and we 
seldom find them willing to use it. 

The little, imperfect as it is, that they have learn- 
ed, is from the want of practice soon forgotten ; and 
many, very many of the labouring classes, by the 
time they have numbered thirty or thirty-five years, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 145 

are unable to write in any manner whatever. Others 
may write with some ease and finish while in school, 
and the copy before them, but as soon as the rule 
and plummet, the school-desk and the round copy- 
plate is taken away, they have lost the art, and now 
find that they are unable to write a straight line or 
a legible one. 

It is to be lamented that so much time is wasted 
in learning what they never do learn, or what, at 
best, they feel ashamed or unable to make any use 
of; or, with others, what is so soon forgotten. There 
is, generally speaking, a sufficient quantity of time 
appropriated to writing, sufficient care (though fruit- 
less) taken to provide materials, (and a great quantity 
of them are used,) to make all of the scholars good 
writers. There is some fault on the part of the 
teacher, or parent, or among the pupils themselves ; 
and we will (from personal observation) describe 
the process of learning to write in our district 
schools*. The causes of so much imperfection may 
thus be developed. 

The child is (in most cases, for it is true that there 
are some exceptions to what I am about to say, I 
wish there were more) provided with a single sheet 
of foolscap paper, doubled into four leaves, a quill, 
and an inkstand, which probably has nothing in it 
but thick, muddy settlings, or dry, hard cotton, and 
thus duly equipped, sent to school. The thin small 
quantity of paper is laid upon the hard desk, made 
full of holes, ridges, and furrows by the former oc- 
cupant's penknife. 

The writing desk in many instances so high that 
the chin of the writer cannot, without a temporary 
elongation of body, be projected over the upper sur- 
face ; this being done, however, and the feet left 
swinging six or eight inches from the floor, and half 
of the weight of the body hanging by the chin, the 
child with a horizontal view examines its copy of 
N 



146 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

straight marks. It then is directed to take the pen, 
which is immediately spoiled by being thrust into 
the dry or muddy inkstand, and begin to write. 

The pen is so held, that the feathered end, instead 
of being pointed towards the shoulder, is pointed in 
the opposite direction, directly in front: the fingers 
doubled in and squeezing the pen like a vice, the 
thumb thrown out straight and stiff, the forefinger 
enclosing the pen near the second joint, and the 
inked end of the pen passing over the first joint of 
the second finger in a perpendicular line to that 
made by the finger. In this tiresome, uneasy, un- 
steady attitude of body, and the hand holding the 
pen with a twisted, cramping gripe, the child com- 
pletes its first lesson in the art of writing. 

After such a beginning, the more the child writes 
the more confirmed will it become in its bad habits. 
It cannot improve ; it is only forming habits which 
must be wholly discarded, if the child ever learns 
any thing. But in this wretched manner the pupil 
is permitted to use the pen day after day, for two, 
or four, or six years. 

The teacher shows the scholar, perhaps, how to 
hold the pen, by placing it in his own hand cor- 
rectly, but does not see that the pupil takes and 
keeps the pen in the same position when ivriting. 
If the pen should be held correctly for a moment, 
while the teacher is observing, the old habit will 
immediately change the position when the teacher 
has turned his back. Such practice and such in- 
struction afford an explanation of so much waste 
of time and materials, of such slow improvement, 
and of so much bad penmanship. 

Another pupil, who commences writing at a more 
advanced age, finds the desk too low, and from being 
obliged to bend somewhat, soon lies down upon the 
paper. I have seldom entered a district school 
during the writing hour, without finding the scho- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 147 

ars who were using the pen, resting their heads 
and shoulders on the desk, looking horizontally at 
their work, and the writing-hook thrown half round, 
making its lines parallel with the axis of the eye. 
In this sleepy, hidden position, it is impossible 
to examine and criticise what we are doing; and 
yet, teachers from carelessness, or from having 
their attention directed to some other part of the 
school during the writing season, almost universally 
allow it. 

Teachers seldom prepare their pens previous to 
their being called for, and they are consequently 
employed in mending them while they should be 
directing the scholars who are writing. They do 
not always specify and describe the frequently oc- 
curring faults in such a manner as to assist the child 
in avoiding them, and in improving the next time 
where he has previously failed. The criticisms are 
too general, too indefinite to profit the pupil, and he 
continues after this useless instruction to write in 
the same careless way that he did before. 

Teachers likewise do not preserve the writing- 
books which have been filled, and hence they are 
not able to compare the one just finished with others 
written a few months before. If they should do 
this, the pupil might often be convinced of that 
which the teacher is unable to make him believe, — 
viz. that he makes no improvement. Teachers 
frequently set copies that are very improper for the 
particular attainments or habits of the pupil : not 
discriminating or knowing what is required. 

To write with ease and facility that which may 
be easily read, is not only a desirable accomplish- 
ment, but in this land of free and distant interchange 
of thought, absolutely necessary. And as an irre- 
gular blind hand is not only a disgrace to the writer, 
but a consumption of much valuable time to the 
reader, I shall give some directions which may pos~ 



148 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

sibly improve the present system of teaching pen- 
manship. 

The child should commence writing at an early 
age, as soon as it has mastered its easy spelling les- 
sons. Young children are fond of making marks, 
and with proper attention will learn to form letters 
as ready, if not readier, than they will when older. 
At this age, too, the teacher finds a difficulty in con- 
fining; their restless minds to the book but for a 
short time, and writing comes in as a variety, and 
an amusement to them. 

If children commence writing when young, they 
always become fond of it ; but those who are not 
permitted to begin till they are ten or twelve years 
of age, very frequently show a dislike to the pen, 
and become disgusted with the shapeless, uncouth 
letters their want of practice compels them to make. 
Their pride looks with scorn upon their inferior 
performance, and they throw aside the quill with 
contempt, probably never to make another attempt. 
I would say, by all means, let children commence 
writing while quite young. 

In their first exercises they should use the slate 
and pencil. I recommend this after having observed 
the benefit of using the slate and pencil in more than 
one hundred different schools. In the public schools 
of the city of New York, I have witnessed as elegant 
specimens of penmanship as I ever met with in any 
select school, or even writing school ; and in all of 
these public schools the pupils are required to use 
the slate and pencil for a considerable time. 

On the slates, the pupils should form letters and 
unite them into words. The letters should be large, 
and much care taken to give them their proper pro- 
portion. The teacher should also see that the pencil 
(which must be four or five inches long) is held in 
the same position in which the scholars will after- 
ward be required to hold the pen. Let the pupil 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 149 

continue to use the slate till he can form all the let- 
ters with ease, and give them their due proportion, 
and be able to unite the letters with uniformity into 
words. 

If this method should be adopted in our district 
schools, I am confident it will be found a great im- 
provement on the present practice, which is to give 
the beginner pen, ink, and paper at first. It like- 
wise saves a great expense ; the slate and pencil not 
costing an hundredth part as much as the pen and 
paper. And I think (and teachers who have used 
the slate agree with me) that the scholars improve 
faster while writing on slates, than they do while 
writing on paper. 

When the pupil commences writing on paper, he 
should have a book made of at least four sheets 
doubled once, and well sewed and covered. At 
first, ruled paper should be used. The book should 
have the lines written out full, and kept free from 
blots ; and each pupil should have an inkstand filled 
with clear, free ink. 

This article in our district schools is apt to be 
extremely poor. The parents buy a paper of ink- 
powder, and put it into a jug with the prescribed 
quantity of rain-water and vinegar. For a time it 
is good ; but after a while it is so far poured out 
as to appear thick. The practice, then, is to fill up 
the jug again with vinegar and water. The ink is 
now thin and pale, and not fit for use. The child 
carries it to school, but does not like it ; and takes 
the liberty of running to one of its neighbours to 
borrow its penfuls, as they may be required while 
continuing to write. The rejected inkstand is placed 
one side, and used at the evening meetings, religious 
or otherwise, for candlesticks. 

The inkstands containing good ink are frequently 
employed in this candlestick service, and thus all 
of the ink in the school-house is spoiled ; yet the 
N 2 



150 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

children continue to use it, and blot their paper, and 
make many fruitless attempts to form the letters. 
If the inkstands should be so fortunate as not to re- 
ceive this greasy treatment, they are, by the care- 
lessness of the children, left unstopped, the ink 
permitted to evaporate and dry up, the loss of which 
is always the wreck of pens from their frequent 
dives after that which is not to be found. 

The inkstand is then filled up with water, and 
the diluted stuff is used, because the owner never 
thinks (or perhaps is not able) to get that which is 
better. Sometimes the ink is thick, and does not 
run freely in the pen. This the young penman 
overlooks, or puts up with in the best way he can, 
though never able to make a fine mark or a smooth 
line. I say then, again, that the article of ink is not 
sufficiently attended to (either by teacher, pupil, or 
parent) in our district schools. 

The pupil being provided with a pen, writing- 
book, and an inkstand filled with free, black ink, 
may take his seat at the writing-desk. The desk 
should be about as high as the elbow of the writer 
when the arm hangs down by the side, and the sur- 
face upon which the book is laid should be but very 
little, if any, inclined. Most of our district school- 
houses have badly constructed writing-desks. 

They are injured, and stand unsteady, or cut full 
of holes, ridges, and furrows, or incline almost to a 
perpendicular, making it scarcely possible to keep 
the book on them, or too narrow, merely admitting 
the paper, and not any part of the arm. They 
should be altered, and made firm, wide, and almost 
parallel with the floor, and of several heights to suit 
the several sizes of the writers. 

The pupil, at a desk of the proper height, should 
sit in a healthy, easy attitude ; that is, but a very 
little bent over; his left foot a little in advance of 
his right ; his left arm resting on the table, its hand 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 151 

steadying the paper, and the body resting consider- 
able weight upon it, and the left side of the body 
somewhat nearer the desk than the right. The right 
arm should be left free, either to be thrown out or 
drawn in towards the breast ; it should receive no 
weight of the body, but be permitted to move in a 
rectilineal manner, unwearied and unrestrained. 

The whole arm should frequently move, but the 
forearm will be in constant motion, permitting the 
hand and wrist to advance across the paper as fast 
as the words are finished. The pen should not be 
taken from the paper while writing a word, even 
the longest one. The fingers making the vertical, 
or up and down strokes, and the movement of the 
forearm the side, or what may be called the advance 
marks. The pen should be held with the feather 
end pointing directly at the shoulder ; it should be 
raised straight enough to pass up between the second 
and third joint of the forefinger ; the thumb a little 
bent out, and the end opposite the first joint of the 
forefinger,, and the pen resting under the nail of the 
second finger, the end of which should be three 
quarters of an inch from the paper. 

Sitting in the position above described, and having 
this hold of the pen, the pupil may begin to write. 
The teacher should keep a close eye upon the 
writer, lest he change the position of the body or 
the pen. 

This position is easy and natural, but former bad 
habits may make it a little unpleasant at first. The 
paper should lie square before the writer. 

The teacher, having his pens (or pens for the 
younger scholars, for the older ones should prepare 
their own) in readiness beforehand, should have a 
stated time for writing, when all should be engaged 
in it at the same time. His constant attention 
during this exercise should be directed to the posi- 
tion in which his pupils sit, to the manner in which 



152 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

they hold their pens, and to the imperfections of 
their writing. 

When a disproportionate letter is made, the child 
should see it as such — when some letters are too far 
from each other, or crowded into too small a space, 
the pupil, should be told of it, and made to perceive 
it — when the letters do not come down to, or reach 
below the line, and are not uniform, the writer 
should have his attention directed to this irregularity, 
and perceive the deformity it causes. Constant 
watchfulness is necessary on the part of the teacher; 
for when the strokes of the pen are made correctly, 
and with care, every succeeding ?nark will be an 
improvement; but when they are made wrong, 
every repeated effort strengthens a bad habit, and 
renders the pupil more and more unqualified for 
becoming a good writer afterwards. 

As I have before said, the larger pupils should 
make their own pens. To do this, each one should 
be provided with a good knife, and be instructed 
by the teacher. One reason of so many poor 
writers, is that scholars in the district schools seldom 
learn to make their pens, and consequently are un- 
able to furnish themselves when one is required in 
after-life. They are obliged to have some one, and 
they make the best they can, but it is, indeed, a 
poor thing. 

This poor pen, added to what they have forgotten 
of their writing, or perhaps what they never knew, 
makes a miserable scrawl — their straight mark would 
have been quite as honourable ; yet they have spent 
much time in learning to write. It is but of little 
use to learn to write, if we do not learn to make 
our pens. Let all teachers, then, who attempt to 
teach the one, also teach the other. 

Young lads, who labour night and morning, and 
attend school during the session hours, should be 
careful not to over-heat or over-exercise their hands; 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 153 

if they do, the swelling and trembling will prevent 
them from holding a steady hand when writing. 
Many commit this imprudence in their exercises. 
They should also keep their hands as pliable as pos- 
sible. 

They should read writing more frequently than 
they do ; much may be learned from examining the 
beautiful penmanship of others. This exercise, too, 
would enable them to read writing with more fa- 
cility. They should practise writing without having 
their paper ruled. They will have to write without 
lines, and they should begin at school. They should, 
also, write without the copy-plate before them. 
Many are able to write well with this, but without 
it they can do nothing. Break away from it in 
school, and it will be easier to do so when out. 



SECTION XIV. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING GEOGRAPHY. 

Geography, till within the last twelve or four- 
teen years, was not taught in the majority of the 
district schools in the United States. At the pre- 
sent time, geography is taught in nearly every 
school ; — with what success those know best who 
have patiently examined the children and youth 
now in the schools, and those who have recently 
gone out from them. I must say, after visiting 
many parts of the New England states and the state 
of New York, for the purpose of becoming acquaint- 
ed with the condition of the schools and the intelli- 
gence of the people, that I discovered far less geo- 



154 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

graphical knowledge among the children and the 
adults than I could have reasonably expected. 

I knew that this study was made a prominent one, 
and that it was attractive, and admirably adapted to 
younger scholars. I therefore supposed that I should 
find many considerably advanced in the study of 
geography. I was painfully disappointed. I per- 
ceived that nearly all of the children had studied or 
were studying geography, but that very few had any 
thing to communicate on this subject in an intelligible 
manner. I sought for the reasons of this deficiency, 
and am convinced that I have discovered some of 
the causes which prevent the scholars from obtain- 
ing this delightful and useful knowledge. I will 
mention some of those hinderances which I per- 
ceived wherever I went.* 

* But we come to the question, what is the nature of the 
education of the humbler classes which is extending in Eng- 
land, and has been so long established in Scotland ] Is it 
of a kind to impart useful practical knowledge for resource in 
life — does it communicate to the pupil any light upon the im- 
portant subject of his own nature and place in creation, — on 
the conditions of his physical welfare, and his intellectual and 
moral happiness ; — does it, above all, make an attempt to 
regulate his passions, and train and exercise his moral feel- 
ings, to prevent his prejudices, suspicions, envying, self-con- 
ceit, vanity, impracticability, destructiveness, cruelty, and 
sensuality"? Alas! No. It teaches him to read, write, and 
cipher, and leaves him to pick up all the rest as he may ! It 
forms an instructive example of the sedative effect of esta- 
blished habits of thinking, that our ancestors and ourselves 
have so contentedly held this to be education, or the shadow 
of it, for any rank of society ! Reading, writing, and cipher- 
ing are mere instruments ; when attained, as they rarely or 
never are, after all, by the working class to a reasonable 
perfection, they leave the pupil exactly in the situation where 
he would find himself, were we to put tools into his hands, 
the use of which, however, he must learn as he may. We 
know well that he will be much more prone to misapply his 
tools, and to cut himself with them, than to use them aright. 
So it is with his reading; for really any writing and account- 
ing of this class, even the most respectable of them, scarcely 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 155 

And first, scholars do not easily perceive, and in 
many instances never, the true figure and motions 
of the earth, from its representation on the plane 
surface of maps ; in other words, there is a want of 
globes, or substitutes for them. From the descrip- 
tion of the earth in the geography, the child is told 
that the earth is spherical, but from the representa- 
tion of it on the map, it appears a plane. That which 
is addressed to the eye is much more impressive 
and lasting than that which is made known by words. 
To the child, the earth appears a plane, and the map 
represents it as such. No means are taken to correct 
this wrong impression. It is true that the book 
says, and the teacher likewise, that the earth is 
round like a ball ; and the pupil learns this, but he 
never knows it. Children, who have studied geo- 
graphy without a globe for years, have frequently 
been heard to say, when accidently meeting with 
one, " Why, you don't mean that the earth is round 
like that, and turns over so ?' ? — " Certainly ; have 
you never learned that?" — "Yes, but we never knew 
it before." By the help of the globe, too, another 
error obtained from the map is corrected. The 

deserves the name, and may be here put out of the account. 
Reading consists in the recognition of printed characters ar- 
ranged into syllables and words. With this most abstract 
accomplishment may coexist unregulated propensities, selfish 
passions, sensual appetites, filthy and intemperate habits, pro- 
found intellectual darkness and moral debasement, all adher- 
ing to a man as closely after as before he could read ; and, be 
it marked, these qualities will give their bias to his future 
voluntary reading, and assuredly degrade and vitiate its cha- 
racter ; it will tend to strengthen his prejudices, deepen his 
superstitions, flatter his passions, and excite his animal appe- 
tites. Well is all this known to the agitator, the quack, and 
the corruptor. They know that the manual-labourer can read ; 
but they know, as well, that he is incapable of thinking, or 
detecting their impositions, if they only flatter his passions. 
No just views of life have ever been given him, no practical 
knowledge of his actual position in the social system. — 
Simpson. 



156 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

pupil perceives that but one-half of the earth can be 
seen at the same time ; and by the help of a candle 
at night, or in a dark room, the motion of the globe 
shows in a moment the true cause of day and night. 
Of all this the child remains ignorant with no other 
assistance than the map. 

Now in the country not one school out of a thou- 
sand is furnished with a globe ; nor is there a teacher 
among as great a number who has ingenuity or in- 
clination sufficient to supply a substitute. The con- 
sequence is, that after all the study, the pupils are 
ignorant of these two facts which lie at the founda- 
tion of this department of knowledge. 

Secondly, pupils with young and weak minds, 
limited knowledge, and ignorant of the vocabulary 
of geographical terms, are required to look round, 
and through the whole solar system, and over every 
part of the habitable or uninhabitable earth. The 
whole of creation, as far as man's vision or imagina- 
tion ever went, is brought at the same time before 
the unexpanded infant mind. The present system 
of teaching geography requires the child to grasp 
this " huge globe" with all its myriads of animate 
and inanimate existences, and the innumerable bodies 
in the heavens with all their splendour and subli- 
mity. 

These are all presented at once. The mind is 
confused, lost ; and by directing the eye towards 
objects far beyond our vision, we remain ignorant 
of the things around us, and never behold those in 
the distance. This evil arises from the books now 
in use in most of our schools. This necessary stretch 
of mind soon fatigues the pupil, and the multiplicity 
of objects prevents any one from appearing clear and 
distinct. 

Thirdly, scholars learn the definitions of the 
names of places, bid do not form any idea of their 
situation and appearance. For example, — " A bay 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 157 

is a portion of water extending up into the land," is 
repeated by the pupil ; but not in one instance out of 
five hundred is there any idea of the position of this 
body of water. Scholars commit their lessons in 
geography in the same manner they do their lesson 
in the catechism or their tables. They are never 
told that this language describes objects and places. 

The study is a business of merely remembering 
words, when it should be that of conceiving distant 
objects and places. The child does not (as geo- 
graphy is now taught) make a transfer of the mind 
to the things described, but directs his whole energies 
in fixing the words of the book in the memory. 
Thus the study of geography is little more than re- 
citing from memory a number of words and sen- 
tences in the order of the book, having no meaning 
to them whatever. 

Fourthly, the representations of places and objects 
on the map, by marks, lines, and spaces, do not 
cause the child to conceive their true position, ap- 
pearance, and location. The language of the map 
has no more resemblance (or if any, not enough to 
be of any assistance to the pupil) to the things it 
represents than the language of the book. What 
similarity is there between a shade on the map and 
a mountain ? What is there in the former that can 
give the mind any idea of the shape and magnitude 
of the latter ? 

Again, what proportion in the spaces between 
places on the map and the spaces between places 
they represent ? An inch in one place, and it may 
be one hundred or one thousand miles in the 
other. Maps, then, give no idea of the contiguity 
or remoteness of places to the young pupil. They 
may to a more mature, experienced mind ; one that 
can form some idea of the proportion between the 
one and the other ; but the scholar does not, cannot 
measure by this artificial relation. The teacher, 

o 



15S DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

then, must assist the learner where language and 
maps necessarily fail ; but the maps and the lan- 
guage of the book, to the teacher represent and 
describe objects and places so well, that he can form 
a correct conception of them. 

He supposes the child can do the same ; not 
thinking that it is a new language to the young 
beginner, and one that has no resemblance to the 
things described or represented ; or if the resem- 
blance of the map does offer a little help, it is not 
enough to transport the mind of the pupil to the 
place or object in question, and give it any true 
conception. He therefore does not come down and 
aid the pupil where other helps end, and his scho- 
lars learn geography without making any appli- 
cation of it to the earth!! 

Fifthly, there is too much said of dress, and fash- 
ions, and manners, and people ; the pupils are led 
to think of persons, and not of places. GeograDhy 
should be studied for the purpose of becoming ac- 
quainted with the surface of the earth. It is, in 
fact, a description of this part of our planet. Its 
mountains, rivers, lakes, islands, oceans, and conti- 
nents should be particularly attended to. The 
smaller and the greater artificial divisions, and the 
varied products, and the broad characteristics in 
animals and men in the different climates of the earth, 
should be made known by the study of geography. 

But instead of these noble, heart-stirring subjects, 
which fill the mind with all that is grand and beauti- 
ful, varied and harmonious, the frivolities of fashions, 
the oddities of manners and customs, and the petty 
differences of nations, lead away the mind, and direct 
the attention to that which is of little comparative 
value, and soon lost from the memory. Geography, 
too, often becomes the biography of the human 
race, or takes the place of history, and relates the 
doings of men and nations. But the object of geo- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 159 

graph y is space, not time — the actual appearance 
of tilings as they now are. 

By not perceiving the legitimate suhjects and 
objects of geography, a multiplicity of things is 
placed before the mind, and prevent it from obtain- 
ing that degree of knowledge of any one place or 
subject which would make it interesting. In this 
case little can be said of each object, and the atten- 
tion is so soon diverted that there is nothing fixed in 
the memory. The result is, that all the time and 
labour has been lost — worse than lost — spent in 
forming bad habits. 

These are some of the difficulties and errors which 
I have met with among scholars pursuing the study 
of geography in our district schools. I admit that 
these evils are serious ; yet I believe that a remedy 
may be had and applied to each of them. If im- 
proved books and maps, in connexion with a globe, 
and the assistance of a well-qualified teacher, should 
be introduced into the schools, the difficulties, which 
now make the study of little value, would happily 
disappear. 

These changes can be made if parents feel the im- 
portance of educating their children. A suitable 
globe may be purchased for one dollar. This would 
be sufficient for the whole school, and would last, 
with proper care, at least two years. Thus a district 
may, for fifty cents a year, furnish their school with 
that which is indispensably necessary to the study 
of geography, and for the want of which so many 
difficulties and errors have been encountered to dis- 
courage and deceive the scholars in this simple, de- 
lightful study. 

Books, which are not merely changes, but real 
improvements, may be had for the same price that 
is paid for those now in use in many of the schools ; 
and qualified teachers, even if the wages are increased 
fourfold, are always the cheapest. There is nothing 



160 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

necessarily preventive of the profitable study of geo- 
graphy in our common schools. 

I will describe the method of teaching geography 
which is now generally approved of, and adopted by 
our most able and experienced teachers. Children 
five or six years old may commence this study with 
advantage. At this age they have learned the names 
of some of the objects which are included in geogra- 
phy ; and though it be but a very small portion, 
yet they have seen a part of the surface of the earth. 
On this small part, and with the few natural objects 
their limited range has made them acquainted with, 
they should commence this comprehensive study. 
The rivulet or river that flows by the side or near 
their dwelling, — the mountain or the vale that may 
be seen from the window, or by a short walk or 
ride, — the boundaries of a field or farm, or their 
native town, which may be traced in person by a 
little travelling, may be viewed and described by 
the child, and these made to furnish its first lessons. 

Having seen the flowing stream of water which 
his book calls a river, and the high mass of earth or 
rocks which is called a mountain, and the landmarks 
or fences which divide fields and farms, and from 
these conceiving the invisible lines which divide 
towns, counties, and states, he is prepared to form 
a correct idea of those objects and places which he 
will see represented on his map, and read descrip- 
tions of in the book, but which he ha"s never visited. 
By commencing the study in this way, he has a 
visible definition of that new vocabulary of words 
and terms which he will meet in his geography. 

When the pupil is familiar with the position and 
distances of a few natural objects, and can describe 
their appearance, he should be required to draw a 
map, and represent them by marks on his slate or 
blackboard. Of course, these will be rude sketches 
at first; but let there be suitable instruction from 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. H)l 

the teacher, and repeated trials, till a pretty correct 
outline is formed. 

In the first place, let the pupil draw a map of his 
room ; representing its outlines, its benches and 
chairs, the stove and fire-place, the instructor's desk, 
&c. When there is some likeness in this sketch, 
let the map be enlarged, and take in the school- 
house, the play-grounds, the fields, and the more 
prominent objects in the immediate vicinity. Let 
such lines and marks be used to represent objects 
and places, now under the eye of the pupil, as are 
used on the map to represent similar places and ob- 
jects which the pupil has never seen. 

After there has been sufficient instruction and 
practice on this enlarged sketch to give it some like- 
ness to the original, let a map be drawn which em- 
braces the neighbouring river, creek, mountain, and 
adjacent farms. Let lines representing the roads, 
the boundaries of fields, and the streams of water, 
be delineated with proportion, and in the right 
place ; and let marks for the natural and artificial 
lines and objects have their right shape and position. 

A mere outline, including some of the most con- 
spicuous objects, is all that should be required at 
this stage of the study. The pupil now knows the 
use of a map, and has taken the primary steps in 
learning to execute one which shall represent any 
part of the earth. With a little assistance from a 
pleasant teach<^ this may be made a most delightful 
exercise for young pupils. 

The most pleasing and correct method of study- 
ing geography, or, what is the same thing, the sur- 
face of the earth, would be to visit in person every 
place and object upon the globe. As this is more 
than one could do, even by spending his whole life 
in travelling, and as the greater number who wish 
to pursue this study have the privilege of travelling 
over but a very small part of this earth, some other 
o 2 



162 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

means must be taken to obtain information of places 
which they will never see. 

The only means, except travelling, are the close 
study of those books which have been written by 
learned travellers, or people residing in the different 
parts of the world, and which contain a description 
of the objects, beings, and surface of the earth. The 
best book of this class is the geography, accompanied 
by a map, the latter having such a representation of 
the earth that you may cast your eye over the figure 
of its great surface at once. 

By a close attention to this geography and map, 
you can, it may almost be said, visit every spot on 
the earth which would be worth your notice. They 
are the stages and ships of the mind, which, leaving 
the body at home, carry the soul around and over 
the whole earth. You should take a passage : and 
if, in passing along, some remarkable object or place 
is pointed out, examine it well, that you may be able 
to describe it to others, whose minds have stayed at 
home as well as their bodies. 

A map, now, of the native state should be drawn, 
and all the information had concerning it which the 
pupil can obtain from the geography. The towns 
and counties should be shown on the map, and some 
of the most remarkable natural and artificial objects. 
A map of the United States may be drawn in out- 
line, and the scholar permitted to get some general 
knowledge of each state. These ^ptlines may be 
sketched on larger slates, or, what is better, on a 
blackboard ; the scholar having a map before him 
for his guide. I know of no intellectual exercise 
more beneficial to the pupil than that of drawing 
maps. It develops faculties which make a well- 
proportioned mind. 

The memory, to bring back to the attention what- 
ever we may have learned concerning the place the 
pencil is delineating — conception, to bring vividly 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 163 

before the mind that which the map represents — 
the imagination, in combining the individual ele- 
ments of nature — abstraction, in separating various 
objects and facts from each other — comparison, in 
painting a likeness on the map — reason, in discern- 
ing the connexions of objects, and the relations of 
the parts to the whole — taste, in the close examina- 
tion of nature, that we may give a true likeness, and 
imagination, by sending out the mind to the most 
distant part of the earth, are all in constant exercise, 
making that just proportion and beautiful symmetry 
so desirable in every mind. 

Each state should now be taken up separately by 
the scholar, and made familiar to his mind, till the 
study of all the states in the Union has been thorough 
and minute. When this is done, the teacher should 
make the scholars acquainted with the globe, if he 
has one, and if not he can use some round substance 
as a substitute. The figure and motions of the earth, 
with its natural and artificial divisions, are what the 
scholars require to know. They now see the cause 
of day and night ; the great quantity of water on 
the earth ; the two continents ; the position of islands 
and lakes, and the situation of the United States in 
the Western Continent. 

After several lectures from the teacher on the 
globe, the scholars should direct their attention to 
Canada and Mexico, and then to South America. 
Then the oceans and seas should be studied ; their 
situation, comparative size, their motions, inhabi- 
tants, and use, made known to the inquiring mind. 
There should now be daily reference to the globe. 
The use of the lines of latitude and longitude, and 
the equator should be seen, and their assistance re- 
ceived in learning the distances and positions of 
places. The agreement between the map and the 
globe should be seen. 

The teacher should be careful that the scholars 



164 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

learn the direction of places from the map. From 
a neglect here, scholars who are considered profi- 
cients in geography, do not know whether England 
is north, east, west, or sooth from them. They 
should take such views on the globe, that they will 
know at once the direction or point of compass of 
any place on the earth. If the teacher will direct 
the attention of the class to this particular point, 
they will learn the relative situation of countries in 
a short time. 

This is necessary to be known on many accounts. 
News are daily coming from every quarter ; and when 
a place is mentioned, the position and direction 
should be instantly conceived. I have often seen 
scholars, who had been "through the geography," 
and yet did not know whether Maine was east or 
south ; Virginia, south or west. This ignorance of 
direction is great, and it should have the especial 
attention of the teacher. 

The distances of places, likewise, should be taught; 
the length and breadth of the state ; the number of 
miles to the most noted places, and the distances be- 
tween them should be familiar to the pupil. This 
is seldom the case ; but it is useful and important 
knowledge. The boundaries of the states should 
be so familiar to the mind that the position of each 
one would occur immediately. A map of all the 
countries in Europe should be drawn, and the geo- 
graphy of each attentively studied, as the scholar 
may have time. Asia should come next, followed 
by Africa. 

The particular attainments and age of the pupil 
must direct the discriminating teacher. No direc- 
tions but those which are very general can be given. 
I would, however, earnestly recommend the in- 
ductive method which I have described, I am 
satisfied, that from the constitution of the mind, and 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 165 

the nature of the study, it is the best. It is like- 
wise adopted by our most experienced teachers ; and 
I hope will soon be received wherever geography is 
taught. 



SECTION XV. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC. 

From this science very little is obtained in our 
district schools, which is of any practical use. 
There is much compulsive, uncertain, and laborious 
study of arithmetic ; but it is often in vain, from the 
manner in which it is taught. Those who have 
received nothing more than a common school edu- 
cation, obtain their practical knowledge of the science 
of numbers, not from their instructions or study in 
school, but from their own invention, and the re- 
wards of experience. 

There is in this country but a small quantity of 
arithmetic in use which came from the schools ; 
necessity has taught the people what they ought to 
have learned at school when young, and when they 
were wasting so much time and money to no pur- 
pose. After making such observations as justify 
these assertions, and reflecting on the misapplication 
of so much time and effort, it is natural to inquire 
why this is so. 

Are the books in use filled with unintelligible 
rules and impracticable examples? Do the teachers 
omit the practical application of the principles they 
teach ? or do the scholars but half know what they 
have the credit of having learned ? To each of 
these inquiries we may reply, to a great extent, in 
the affirmative. Many of the books now in use, 



166 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

are blind and difficult to the scholars, and present 
the art of calculating by numbers in an unnatural, 
discouraging form. 

The magnitude of the examples is so great that 
the child forms no correct idea of the numbers which 
constitute them. The reasoning from them, there- 
fore, the child cannot comprehend. These examples, 
likewise, are abstract numbers. The child's mind 
is not prepared for perceiving abstract numbers and 
quantities with sufficient clearness and distinctness, 
to be able to connect them with practical examples, 
the only use any one can make of them which is of 
any value. The pupil's mind is perplexed and 
wearied with these large, unmeaning examples, 
which he considers altogether useless, and without 
any practical connexion whatever. 

This is the first idea which is obtained from the 
arithmetic ; and it generally goes along with them 
until they relinquish the unpleasant study. In most 
cases the figures are new to the child, and the quan- 
tities they represent, he can form no conception of; 
and a darker, more disagreeable study, the pupil 
hopes he never will have to undertake. Such is the 
commencement of the study of arithmetic. What 
the child dislikes at first, it seldom becomes fond 
of afterwards. 

The first step being but imperfectly understood, 
the pupil is not fitted to take the second, and conse- 
quently, from being unable to help himself, requires 
the aid of the teacher. The teacher's explanations 
do not assist him, he is not prepared for them on 
this point — he does not understand the first step. 
The instructor supposes the pupil stupid, and the 
pupil thinks that he has attempted what is too diffi- 
cult for him to comprehend. The third step is 
tried, but with less success, for in the science of 
numbers the after steps always require a knowledge 
of those which have gone before. In this manner 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 167 

the scholar is forced a short distance into the arith- 
metic without knowing where he is, or what he is 
doing. The whole is a mystery, for in reality 
nothing has been learned. 

The teacher require the scholar to commit the 
rules to memory, but never gives or demands a 
single reason for one of them. The pupil has not 
understood the examples — knows nothing about the 
facts upon which the rules are founded ; and of 
course does not understand the rule, or see any 
direction or application in it. The teacher is pe- 
remptory for the memoriter recitation of the rule, 
and the scholar, after many accusations of his me- 
mory, and much protracted labour, is able (from the 
mere association of words, for he has not, during 
the hundred readings, got an idea) to repeat the rule 
without the book. 

I have frequently met with some of the larger 
scholars who could promptly and accurately repeat 
every rule in the arithmetic, and yet they were not 
able to apply in practical life the most simple one, 
nor did they know one reason for any of them. 
How can they expect that such knowledge will be 
of any use ? The great thing aimed at with teach- 
ers, seems to be the ready recitation of the rule 
from memory ', rather than the ready application 
of it to practical purposes. 

The tables, also, which ought to be committed 
before any progress is attempted, are either entirely 
overlooked, or less than half learned. The child is 
at work in the rule of multiplication, and does not 
know how many four multiplied by four make. 
Every time he multiplies he is sent to the multipli- 
cation table. This constant reference to that which 
he ought to know, interrupts his operations — he 
forgets the last step he took, and on examination the 
sum is wrong. In this manner he goes through the 
rule ; still ignorant of the table. 



168 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

He is, perhaps, ciphering in the compound rules, 
but does not know one of the tables of weights and 
measures! If any thing is done, there must be a 
constant turning back to the tables: and there they 
should keep till they knoio them. In the every- 
day transactions of business, these tables are required, 
but the pupils have never learned them, and thus 
are compelled to spend considerable time in hunting 
up a book that will inform them, or to make con- 
fession of their ignorance, and beg the knowledge 
from some one of the company — a shameful resort, 
indeed, for one who has had the opportunity of ac- 
quiring this necessary knowledge. 

If the tables had been thoroughly learned at first, 
there would not have been this delay and embar- 
rassment in working the sum in the school-room, or 
out of it in transacting the necessary business of life. 
But few scholars graduate at our district schools, 
who are able to recite the one-twentieth part of the 
tables. They are consequently unprepared for the 
most common transactions in practical life. 

There is another defect found in nearly every 
school. The scholar has been labouring on a sum 
for some time, but cannot get it right. He carries 
it to the teacher, who takes the slate to himself and 
does the sum, the scholar at the same time looking 
at something else. The slate is returned with the 
sum done out, and the boy takes his seat. Does he 
now examine the work of the teacher, and see what 
was done to obtain the answer ? Not at all. 

Why ? Did the teacher explain it to him ? No. 
Has he any more knowledge of the sum now than 
he had before he went to the instructor ? No. 
What does he do then ? Why, he rubs out the 
sum and proceeds to the next. He has got over it, 
he has gained so much towards the end of the book; 
whether he can do the sum or not is of no conse- 
quence to him or trouble to the teacher. Such, it 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 169 

is frequently seen, is the indifference of the teacher, 
and the superficiality of the scholar. 

In the books on the subject of arithmetic now in 
general use, the scholar meets with but few practical 
examples. Their nature, and the form in which 
they are presented, differ widely from the examples 
which occur in the affairs of life. The youth, not 
seeing that the general, leading principles are the 
same in both cases, knows not how to apply the 
knowledge of the school-room as an assistant in his 
calculations when abroad. 

I have known lads who have "gone through" the 
arithmetic, requested, while standing by the counter, 
to ascertain the amount of several articles of goods, 
which their mother or their sister had just been pur- 
chasing, but they would hesitate, mention several 
sums, and after all take the merchant's account with 
not even practical knowledge sufficient to examine it. 

Why is this so ? Two reasons. The books are 
deficient in practical exercises, and the teacher does 
not direct the scholar's mind from the abstract prin- 
ciples and examples of the book to their practical 
use. If the teacher had frequently proposed such 
sums as occurred in the store, the scholar would 
know how to go to work, his experience would 
give him facility and correctness, and the instruction 
of the teacher would be present for his assistance. 

Teachers do not bring enough of the sales and 
purchases, the measurements and calculations of 
the world into the school-room. When a scholar 
has learned a general principle, or an abstract pro- 
position, the teacher should see whether or not the 
pupil can make any use of it, — whether he can show 
its practical bearing, and apply it to the every-day 
business going on in the world. But this is seldom 
done, and the scholar is little benefited. 

If a promiscuous sum is given to a lad taught in 
this manner., he does not examine the nature of the 
P 



170 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

sum, and find out the relations of its parts, and the 
first steps necessary to be taken, but immediately 
tries to find an analogy between it and some one 
which he has been told how to work. The sum 
does not suggest its appropriate rule, and he knows 
not what one to apply. After doubtfully, and pro- 
bably incorrectly, trying one rule, and then another, 
and then a third, he gives up in despair ; the sum is 
laid aside, or worked out by the teacher, never to 
be looked at by the scholar. 

These are some of the errors in the presenc sys- 
tems of teaching arithmetic. The reasons why 
scholars obtain so little that is of any practical use 
from this branch of knowledge in our district schools, 
can now, we think, be clearly perceived. I will 
now give some directions, that some of these errors 
may be avoided at least, and that the science of 
arithmetic may be made pleasant and useful.* 

When a child begins to use its senses, the first 
thing, probably, which takes its attention, is the 
figure or form of material objects. The next thing 
noticed is number, or the existence of many separate 
individual objects. Thus the child learns to count 
a few of the first numbers very early, generally be- 
fore it knows the names of the letters. Having the 
idea of number, and being able to count a short dis- 
tance, it is constantly making small calculations. 
These operations are performed on their playthings, 
and other visible, tangible objects which draw their 
attention. 

They add one quantity or number to another : 
they take one quantity from another, and they divide 
a quantity into several parts. The method which 

* Since I wrote this work, I have examined " The Common 
School Arithmetic," by Professor Davies, and I am happy to 
say that to this work 1 can give my unqualified approbation. 
I earnestly desire to see this arithmetic in every common- 
school in our country. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 171 

children take to perform these mental operations is 
not always the most expeditious; and hence the ne- 
cessity of giving them instructions in what they are 
delightfully and naturally engaged in. It will not 
do to give them rules at first. The judicious parent 
or instructer will encourage these natural operations, 
performed in whatever manner nature may direct. 

After they are able to view what they have done, 
and reflect upon these calculations, some defects 
should be pointed out, and some improvements sug- 
gested. Such encouragement and direction will 
enable children, at an early age, to form a great 
variety of combinations of numbers. At this age 
the mind may be assisted by sensible objects. Ab- 
stract quantities or numbers, the child cannot dis- 
tinctly comprehend ; a visible, tangible sign should 
be used to represent them. 

As soon as the child is familiar with the exam- 
ples which come under the four simple rules, addi- 
tion, subtraction, multiplication, and division, he 
may commit a brief comprehensive rule for each. 
These rules being founded on the very operations 
he has already made and understands, have a mean- 
ing in them, and they w T ill give him more accuracy 
and expedition. Beans, or nuts, or any small objects 
which children may handle, can be used to represent 
the abstract numbers. 

For example, the child has five chestnuts, and we 
wish to make it perform the operation of taking two 
from five, and then to tell the remainder. We take 
away two of the chestnuts, and ask it how many it 
now has. The reply is three. Then two from 
five, how many remain? The child answers 
readily, three. An answer it would not have given 
if there had not been a visible illustration of the 
quantity taken away and the quantity left. By in- 
creasing the number of the chestnuts, and then di- 
viding them among several individuals, involved 



272 DISTRICT SCHOOL, 

questions in addition and division may be an- 
swered. 

These visible, tangible signs may be made to re- 
present almost any proportion or relation in the 
combination of numbers. The proportion of the 
rule of three may be seen at a glance. Let three 
chestnuts be placed by the side of six others, and 
four more by the side of eight others. The child 
then sees that three are to six as four are to eight; 
or, in the words in the abstract rule, the first term 
is to the second as the third is to the fourth ; or, let 
us take three quantities : three chestnuts are placed 
by the side of six others, and these six by the side 
of twelve. 

Now, the child sees that three are to six as six 
are to twelve. By this means, that proportion, at 
the glance of the eye, is made known, which is sel- 
dom perceived by working every example under 
the rule. Visible, tangible signs in the hands of an 
ingenious, judicious teacher, may greatly simplify 
and facilitate the acquisition of knowledge. They 
may be used with advantage in geometry and the 
still higher branches of mathematics. 

Care, though, should be taken that these sensible 
signs are not carried too far. There is danger when 
too much dependence is placed upon them, of making 
the mind averse to deep, abstract thought ; thus pre- 
venting the discipline it should always acquire in 
this study. They should not prevent the mind from 
thinking — they should make it think clearly. 

After the pupil can perform with ease a few ex- 
amples in each of these simple rules, the multiplica-* 
lion table should be learned. This is always a great 
task to .scholars. It is with difficulty they keep 
their minds fixed upon the numbers, and they gene- 
rally forget one line while studying the next. This 
discourages them, and they now try to learn the 
whole at once. For days, and weeks, and months, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 173 

and frequently years they read it over and over, 
but yet they are unable to fix it in the memory. 

I have known scholars imbued with a thorough 
hatred to the whole science of numbers, from the 
difficulty they found in committing the multiplica- 
tion table. Now all of this difficulty is occasioned 
by not mastering one part at once ; by running care- 
lessly over the whole with the eyes or the organs 
of speech, and the mind directed to something else, 
or wandering without any object in view. If the 
pupil would have patience to confine himself to one 
part, and commit that thoroughly to-day ; and to- 
morrow another small part; and the next day a 
little more, he would in a week's time so fix the 
whole table in his memory, that it would always be 
ready for his use. 

The multiplication table is easily learned, if scho- 
lars will study right; and this should be the business 
of the teacher to oversee. The whims of children 
on this subject have too much latitude in our district 
schools. The memory has not been exercised, and 
the effort is new and almost always difficult to be 
made ; but the teacher should remember that disci- 
plining the mind is as much his duty to his scholars 
as imparting information. The habit should now be 
formed of continued, fixed concentration of mind to 
one subject. When the scholars are committing the 
tables, the teacher has a fine opportunity of com- 
mencing this discipline ; and he is culpable if he 
does not improve it. 

When the multiplication table is familiar to the 
memory, the pupil may be permitted to work the 
examples under the simple rules, as far as the com- 
pound rules. Here the pupil must stop and learn 
the tables of weights and measures. A knowledge 
of these will not only be necessary to understand 
and perform the examples under the compound 
rules, but absolutely necessary in the business of 
p2 



174 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

after-life. To know how many gills make a pint ; 
how many inches a foot, and feet a yard, and furlongs 
a mile, is required of every one who lives in the 
society of men. These tables are generally learned 
so superficially, that the scholar has forgotten them 
by the time he has gone through the next rule in 
advance. 

When the pupils can say them forwards, or back- 
wards, or any other way chance may present them, 
let examples which come under the tables be given 
to the scholars. Working these will recall the 
tables, and give the pupils an opportunity of seeing 
their use and application. The teacher should give 
the class practical sums, not found in the book, re- 
quiring a knowledge of these weights and measures. 
After the compound rules and reduction are master- 
ed, the pupils may advance to those more compli- 
cated. 

It should always be the aim of the teacher, when 
questions are asked by the pupil, to ask such other 
questions as will enable the pupil to answer his own. 
Knowledge which we discover ourselves is more 
acceptable and useful than that which others give 
us. The teacher should explain the rules, show 
their application, and then throw the scholar upon 
their direction. He should strive to make the pupil 
think for himself, and believe that the book is all 
the assistance he wants. If the pupil is not assisted 
by the rule, a second explanation must take place. 
No part should be passed over not understood. 

Some of the rules of the arithmetic have a more 
direct application with the labouring classes of so- 
ciety than others. These should receive a particular 
attention. The simple rules, compound rules, rule 
of three direct, and interest, are among this number. 
A knowledge of them will make men ready and 
accurate. Under these, the teacher should multiply 
practical examples, making them familiar in every 
shnpe. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 175 

And, lastly, teachers should aim at rapidity of 
operation. in all of the arithmetical exercises. It is 
a great advantage to do a sum quickly ', as well as 
accurately. Great rapidity in numerical calculations 
may be attained by exercising ourselves in thinking 
quickly. This habit, likewise, will accustom the 
mind to be active on other subjects. Thus the two 
legitimate objects of the science will be gained, use- 
ful knowledge and mental discipline. 



SECTION XVI. 

THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING GRAMMAR. 

Grammar may be termed the science of language; 
and language, in the most extensive sense, is the 
instrument or means of communicating ideas and 
affections of the mind and body from one animal to 
another. The language of brutes is inarticulate 
sounds, but the language of man is articulate sounds 
and written signs or characters. These characters 
are combined into words, and when brought before 
the eye (from the common consent of men and 
common usage) represent to us the ideas of others. 
When these elementary characters or letters are 
united into words and inscribed on paper, or any 
substance which receives their form, they are called 
a written language. 

Grammar, then, as a science, treats of the natural 
connexion between these words, and makes known 
the principles which are common to all languages. 
These principles, upon which the grammar of a lan- 
guage is founded, are not arbitrary or variable, but 
fixed and universal. They are formed from the 



176 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

natural, permanent phenomena of the language in 
the same way that the principles of Natural Philo- 
sophy are formed from the phenomena of nature. 
The author of a grammar collects the facts and phe- 
nomena of a language, and from them forms the 
principles which make the science of the language. 

The grammarian sees in every language several 
classes of words of the same nature ; to each class he 
gives a name. For instance, words which represent 
things, or whatever we may form a notion of, he 
calls nouns. Another class he calls verbs, another 
adjectives ; and finally he perceives in the English 
language and names, nine classes of words. Their 
natural distinctions are always seen, and make what 
is called the nine parts of speech. 

Again, these classes of words have various rela- 
tions to each other, and are sometimes modified by 
what they represent. These relations and modifi- 
cations give rise to what grammarians call number, 
case, mood, tense, &c. Every individual has the 
same opportunity of observing these facts and phe- 
nomena in a language, that the individual had who 
wrote the grammar. The grammarian examined 
the language as it is, and has given you what he 
discovered. He has written out a science which is 
so obvious to all, and at the same time so simple, 
that all may learn it ; and they may not only learn 
it, but they may make a practical use of it ; for the 
whole object of the science is to enable every person 
to write and speak with ease, force, and correctness. 

To do this is very desirable to all. Every person 
must use language, and when it is used well, there 
is a force and beauty given to the ideas which they 
otherwise would never have. Thus grammar be- 
comes an important study to all. Without this 
study men will use either too many or too few 
words in expressing their ideas — they will use those 
which do not mean what they intend to say , or 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 177 

those which express more or not as much as they 
mean. They will put words in the wrong place, 
making their ideas obscure or unintelligible ; and 
thus they will always employ that powerful instru- 
ment, by which they act upon the minds of others, 
in an awkward, disagreeable, and powerless manner. 

I am aware that grammar has been considered a 
difficult subject, especially to younger scholars. But 
I apprehend that most of the difficulties have arisen 
rather from the manner it has been taught, than 
from the nature of the science. He who can bring 
two things together and see whether they are alike or 
unlike, may learn the grammar of his language, and 
be able to make use of what he has learned, whenever 
there is an occasion for speaking or writing. 

I know how dry and useless scholars in our com- 
mon schools have found this study. The custom is 
for all to study grammar, yet, as far as I have ex- 
amined, I have never met with many scholars, edu- 
cated in the district school, who were benefited in 
the least. Nearly every pupil could repeat the 
grammar from beginning to end with great fluency. 
It was manifest that in all their study on the gram- 
mar they had exercised no other faculty than the 
memory. They had been taught to consider their 
grammar as something that was to be committed, 
and nothing more. 

Years had been spent in doing this, and yet the 
scholar was just as unable to distinguish a part of 
speech, to apply a rule, or construct a sentence, as 
if he had spent the whole of that time in committing 
to memory words and sentences to which he could 
connect no meaning whatever. The scholars had 
spent months, and more frequently years, in parsing, 
but had used the dictionary to find out what part of 
speech the word in question was, and then guessed 
its modification and government. 

If they guessed what the teacher considered as 



178 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

right, they went on, and nothing further was said ; 
if the guessing was wrong, the teacher corrected 
them, and the only manifestation they had to give 
of understanding why they were wrong and the 
teacher right, was their ability to repeat the teacher's 
correction, and then pass on to guess out the next 
word. Consequently the time which scholars devote 
to the study of grammar in our common schools, is 
spent in committing to memory and in parsing 
by guess. 

Now why does not committing the grammar to 
memory qualify the scholar for distinguishing parts 
of speech ; for seeing their relations to each other, 
and for perceiving their government? Why does 
he not parse with some correctness, with some cer- 
tainty of the truth of what he is saying? Is the 
grammar which he has committed, good for nothing ? 
or has he not mental capacity sufficient to under- 
stand it ? or has he been taught to understand what 
he has been learning, and make a practical use of it? 

We believe the fault is suggested by the last ques- 
tion ; though the books are not faultless, for the best 
system we have seen may be improved either in its 
definitions or arrangement, or its adaptation to the 
youthful mind ; and we know, too, that some have 
commenced the study too young, or with minds not 
sufficiently cultivated ; but the main cause of scho- 
lars not deriving any benefit from studying gram- 
mar, is their not understanding the rules and defini- 
tions they have learned. 

Scholars seldom know even the object of gram- 
mar. How can they know what application to make 
of it? But few teachers know how to assist the 
pupil in the study of grammar. The most of them 
do not understand it themselves, and it cannot be 
expected that they will give what they do not pos- 
sess. I know of nothing in which our district 
schools are so defective as they are in the art of 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 179 

teaching grammar. An entire change is necessary 
in the system now adopted. 

The study, instead of exercising only the memory 
by committing the words and sentences of the book, 
and the organs of speech by pronouncing after the 
teacher, should appeal to the judgment, and to what 
has already been learned, for assistance in making 
farther progress. We think the study of grammar, 
if rightly taught, is level with the capacities of scho- 
lars in our district schools at an early age. To get 
a practical knowledge of the science is not difficult ; 
the disputed points in the philosophy of the language 
may be, but these do not belong to the learner. 
Scholars are continually violating the plain simple 
rules of their language, and the object of their at- 
tending to the grammar is to obtain that knowledge 
of the construction of the language which will enable 
them to avoid this inaccuracy, so offensive to good 
taste, and so disgraceful to its author. 

That the study may become a pleasant and profit- 
able employment to all who engage in it, I will de- 
scribe a system which has been thoroughly tested, 
and is now adopted by eminent teachers. It has 
been my lot to study grammar in the same way it 
is now taught in the district schools, and I am con- 
fident that I learned nothing which was of any 
benefit to me. I know that it was always a dark, 
uncertain, disagreeable study, disliked by the pupils, 
and avoided as much as possible by the teacher. I 
have, likewise, personally observed the practice of 
the system that I am now about to recommend, and 
shall have the advantage of speaking from expe- 
rience. 

When a scholar opens his grammar, he meets 
(after a few preliminary remarks) with the names 
of nine parts of speech, or classes of words. These 
names or words are entirely new to him — he has 
never met with them before, and he of course has 



180 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

but a mere conjecture of what they mean. By look- 
ing farther, he sees these technical terms denned. 
He reads or commits to memory the definition ; but 
the definition has by no means given a full, distinct 
idea of the meaning of the term. 

There are two reasons why the definitions have 
failed in doing that for which they were intended. 
The first is, the definitions in the grammars now in 
use are miserably deficient within themselves. They 
either include words which are unintelligible to the 
scholar, or are of so abstract a nature, or so compli- 
cated, that they are as blind and as unmeaning as 
the technical term itself. The great importance of 
giving correct definitions to this art has never been 
duly appreciated. 

There are in these nine parts of speech, the noun, 
the article, the adjective, the pronoun, the verb, the 
adverb, the preposition, the conjunction, and inter- 
jection, proper and natural differences; and the best 
way of preparing the young mind to distinguish 
these differences, is to tell in a clear, direct manner 
what these terms are. Unless he has a true percep- 
tion of the thing, and can tell what it is, he will not 
know how to distinguish it from that to which it may 
have some resemblance. These defective definitions 
cause great indistinctness in getting the meaning of 
these first elements which constitute the science. 

The second reason is, scholars, from their previous 
habits of study, do not suppose they can understand 
what they read. They have never been required 
to do this: in learning to spell, they pronounced 
words without connecting with them any meaning ; 
and they have learned to read or pronounce words 
in sentences without attaching any meaning ; and 
they now in like manner pronounce the words 
which make the definitions of the grammatical terms, 
without even thinking they have a meaning which 
ought to be perceived and understood by them. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 181 

Now, that a scholar may commence right, he 
should have an accurate, distinct definition of each 
part of speech. If the book does not make the 
definition of the term clear and intelligible to the 
pupil, the teacher should do this by examples and 
illustration. The teacher should also see that the 
pupil thinks of what he is saying, and that he under- 
stands what the words mean. Let the instructer 
select a noun (and this should be done when the 
scholar first commences the study, not after he has 
committed, as the usual practice is, the whole gram- 
mar), and request the pupil to tell the part of speech. 

This the pupil will generally do, if he under- 
stands the meaning of the word that is selected, 
and the definition of a noun. If he does not un- 
derstand the meaning of both, he will only guess ; 
there will be no certainty. And here can be seen 
the reason of so much guessing in the parsing exer- 
cises — ignorance of the sentiment they are parsing, 
and of the definitions of the parts of speech. Let 
the teacher point out a large number of words which 
are names of things, or names of notions in the mind, 
and ask the pupils their part of speech. 

When they can readily distinguish a noun, let the 
teacher, to see if the scholars understand the defini- 
tion of the term noun, mention some words which 
belong to other parts of speech, and thus ascertain 
whether they can distinguish the noun from other 
words by its definition. Then the teacher should 
require the pupils to point out nouns, and tell why 
they are so. When they are accurate and ready in 
this exercise, the instructer should teach them to 
distinguish between the singular and plural numbers. 
This, as there are but two numbers, they will soon 
do. They should be told distinctly what made a 
noun singular and what plural. Then let them 
name nouns of each number. 

After this, let them learn the gender of nouns. 

Q 



182 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

Let them know what gender means, and require 
them to mention nouns in the masculine gender, 
and then some of the feminine, and others of the 
neuter gender. On this they should practise till 
the gender of any noun is perceived instantly ; and 
then they should know the distinction between pro- 
per and common nouns. After this the person of 
nouns should be attended to ; that the one that speaks 
is first person ; the one that is spoken to is second 
person ; and the person or thing spoken of is third 
person. And lastly, in this first exercise with 
nouns, let their " case" be understood. 

Let them know that case means condition, and 
that this condition alters according to the relations 
the word may have to others in the same sentence. 
Let these relations be seen, so that the case will al- 
ways be known. Now the scholars should parse the 
noun in its states. Let the words, for example, — 
" Father's house" be given. Let them tell the part 
of speech of father's ; whether a proper or common 
noun ; what gender ; what person ; what number ; 
and what case. Let them go through with the word 
house in the same way. This exercise on the noun 
should be continued for a considerable time. This 
is all interesting, and may be made intelligible to 
small scholars. By this means they will understand 
the terms, and learn to think and discriminate be- 
tween the several conditions of words of the same 
part of speech. 

At this point let the two articles be pointed out 
by the teacher, and the distinction between the two, 
and the nature and use of each, made plain to the 
pupil. Let their position before nouns be seen, 
and the general use of " an" instead of " a" before 
words beginning with a vowel. 

After this, let the class of words called adjectives 
be given to the pupil for their next lesson. Let the 
teacher show the class the nature of adjectives ; that 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 183 

they include those words which are added or joined 
to nouns for some purpose, generally to express 
their quality. Let the scholars see that they have 
neither number, gender, or case ; that the adjective 
never changes, except in its degrees of comparison ; 
and that these degrees are three. Let a number of 
words from the class of adjectives be shown to the 
class ; and the pupils required to tell why they are 
in this class of words. 

Now the teacher should select the three parts of 
speech which the class has learned ; say, " a wise 
man," and request the scholar to parse them. The 
scholars then say, that "a" is an indefinite article, 
and they tell the reason, — that "wise" is an adjec- 
tive, because it describes the qualities of "man." 
Then the pupil should be taught the formation and 
nature of the positive, comparative, and superlative 
degrees. When he understands these, he should 
put those in the positive state into the other states, 
and name the comparative and positive states of 
those he finds in the superlative. He should be 
exercised for some time in learning the nature of 
adjectives, and in changing them through their 
degrees. 

The class of words called "pronouns" should be 
attended to next. The scholars should know dis- 
tinctly what a pronoun is, — the difference between 
the three kinds clearly perceived, and the appropri- 
ate use of this part of speech. The pupil now should 
point out the words that belong to the class of pro- 
nouns, and likewise tell which are relative, and 
which are personal, and which are adjective. After 
sufficient exercise in this, the scholar may go to the 
" verbs." 

As this is a complicated part of speech, the teacher 
should proceed with order, distinctness, and tho- 
roughness. Care should be taken to give the pupil 
a correct definition of the name, "verb." As nouns 



1S4 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

are names of things, so verbs are the names of 
actions. 

Let a number of words belonging to the class of 
verbs be shown to the pupils ; let their use and 
nature be seen, and all the properties in which they 
differ from other parts of speech. The pupil should 
not, at present, attend to the distinctions between 
the active, passive, and neuter verbs, or the pecu- 
liarities of the irregular verbs. It is sufficient now 
to fix in the pupil's mind the simple definition of a 
verb, free from any of its modifications. The scho- 
lars may then be taught that verbs have person, 
number, mood, and tense. The last two words are 
new to them, and should be defined intelligibly. 

When they know the use of mood and tense by 
a variety of examples from the teacher, they should 
attend to the different moods and several tenses. 
There is so much technical phraseology in this part 
of all grammars, and the differences in the forms of 
the verb so nice and abstract, that the teacher will 
find it necessary to be " copious in his examples, 
and ingenious in his illustrations" The pupil 
should conjugate one of the verbs through the active 
voice. In doing this, the appropriate form of the 
moods and tenses should be remembered. 

When the child is familiar with the active voice, 
let it attend to the passive, carefully comparing it 
with the active, and noting all the distinctions. 
After the conjugation of this, let the neuter verb be 
studied in the same way. Then the auxiliary verb 
" to have," and the irregular verbs may be learned. 
A little order and patience on the part of the student, 
and familiar illustration on the part of the teacher, 
will soon obtain the mastery of the verb. 

When this is done, let the nature and use of the 
" adverb" be the subject of the lesson. The words 
it qualifies, the several classes, &c, the pupil should 
distinctly see. Then the " prepositions," with their 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 185 

usual position, and their use in connecting words 
with one another by showing their relations. Then 
the "conjunction," with the distinction between the 
copulative and disjunctive, and the use of each. 
And, lastly, the " interjection,' 7 serving to express 
the emotions of the speaker or writer. 

The pupil is now supposed to understand the 
terms that he is obliged to use in the study of gram- 
mar, and also to be acquainted with the nine sorts 
of speech, and their most usual modifications. Much 
of the language of the grammar was entirely new to 
the scholar, and he may now consider himself as 
through the driest and most difficult part. 

At this stage of the study, the pupils should be 
detained some time in acquiring readiness and ac- 
curacy in naming the different classes of words, and 
in putting them through their respective and various 
modifications. When this can be done without 
hesitating or missing, the pupil should learn and 
apply the rules of syntax. For this exercise he 
is now prepared ; he can now see the reason of 
having rules. The facts and phenomena upon which 
the rules are founded he has been attending to ; he 
knows what gave rise to them, — how they were 
made, and their true use. 

By this method he has learned grammar in the 
same way that he acquired knowledge when Nature 
was his teacher ; the particulars before the generals, 
the facts before the principles. To fill the mind 
with general rules, without knowing a reason for 
one of them, — to compel the pupil to give them 
without seeing their application, to load the memory 
with undefined terms, — to expect the pupil to dis- 
criminate between things which must and will appear 
to him to be the same, and to repeat words for years 
without annexing to them one idea, is the present 
mode of teaching grammar. The system that I have 
now recommended, in the hands of a competent 
Q2 



186 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

teacher, will secure interest to this science, and 
ensure practical knowledge from its study. 

When scholars see the properties, relations, and 
government of words, they should be exercised on 
false etymology ; sentences of this nature being given 
to them for correction. The teacher should always 
make them give their reasons for the alteration. 
Then the scholars should examine sentences which 
present false syntax. The instructor should always 
watch for faulty sentences in the conversations or 
compositions of his pupils. When he detects any, 
their authors should be required to correct them by 
their knowledge of grammar. The scholar should 
make constant use of this knowledge in correcting 
the bad grammar he will be sure to hear in every 
society; and he himself should, after this, "write 
and speak with propriety." 



SECTION XVII. 

HISTORY SHOULD BE MADE A STUDY IN DISTRICT 
SCHOOLS. 

The Ameiican youth have sadly neglected the 
history of their country. I know of nothing so easily 
acquired, so highly important, so useful to all, and 
at the same time so thrilling in interest, concerning 
which the American people manifest so much igno- 
rance. Many of those who have had the higher 
privileges of education are familiar with the histories 
of the nations of antiquity ; they are well acquainted 
with the histories of the more distinguished nations 
of the present day ; and yet almost entirely ignorant 
of the history of their own people and country. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 187 

Histories which are purchased and read are not 
those of our forefathers ; but of foreign, remote 
nations, or those who are now gone from the earth. 
We turn our attention to the doings and sayings of 
other nations, as if there was nothing instructing or 
interesting in our origin, growth, and greatness. 
How seldom do we meet with men, even among the 
better informed, who arc able to rehearse their coun- 
try's deeds, or to call the names of those who toiled 
and bled for their country's liberty! This is not the 
tribute we owe to those who bled for our blessings. 

The youth of this free and independent govern- 
ment should prize the American history as the great 
register of civil rights and noble deeds. They 
should embalm it upon their memory, and be ready, 
at all times, to repeat the story of their liberties. 
No lessons are more useful than those we learn from 
history. They are counsels from the experience of 
nations. The light that history sheds upon time 
now gone, illumines the time that is yet to come. 
It is the great telescope of the future. 

Then, who is so well prepared to foresee his coun- 
try's destiny, or labour for his country's good, as 
that man who has been taught by his country's his- 
tory ? What man can value his nation's liberty and 
prosperity, except he has read their cost ? Yet, how 
few of those who are now our country's hope, and 
soon will be her men and rulers, who know any 
thing of her history! There is scarcely a primary 
school where it is taught, and but few of the higher 
schools make it an important study! This should 
not be so. The history of the United States should 
be taught at home, and at school, and in conversation 
by the way-side. Every member of society, every 
citizen of this commonwealth, should be intimately 
acquainted with every bright example or important 
event in our history. These should be the themes 
of our highest eloquence, and to them we should 



188 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

ever appeal. What is there of more interest to the 
American youth than the first settlement of this 
great continent ? 

Where did these bold spirits come from, and what 
was their after history? Who did they find here, 
and what has been the friendship, or enmity, between 
the native and the European ? What was the cha- 
racter of the first settlers of this New World, and 
under what government did they live for some time? 
Is the government the same now, and if not, when 
was the change, and what were the causes ? What 
were the consequences of refusing to obey the 
government of others, and declaring ourselves an 
independent people ? 

Who were the great men foremost in this noble 
work ? How many did we number when we fought 
for our liberty ? Who suffered and died for freedom? 
How long were we in achieving our independence? 
Wlio assisted us ? How much was the nation in 
debt at that time ? Who were the great leaders in 
the struggle for liberty ? How have they been 
honoured? What distinguished men have lived 
since ? What has been our increase and prosperity ? 
What changes are we making on this continent? 
How are we regarded by other nations, and what 
are our prospects ? 

Who is there, that enjoys the bounties of this land 
and the blessings of its liberty, that does not want 
to answer these questions, and many others like 
them ? What youth is willing to step into man- 
hood, ignorant of this wise and deeply interesting 
volume, which our history presents ? The history 
of the United States should be taught in every -dis- 
trict school ; and it should always be studied with 
a map. Historical information will give interest to 
places, and lend a charm to geography. A know- 
ledge of history will tell us how others have lived, 
and enable us to compare ourselves with the past, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 189 

and prepare ourselves for the future. The civil 
history of the United States should he made a study, 
likewise, in all our elementary schools, as well as in 
academies and colleges. This is a very important 
part of education. The constitution of the United 
States should be familiar to every American youth. 
This document should be studied, with some ap 
proved, judicious commentary. I know of no trea- 
tise on the constitution so well adapted to schools, 
as the " Outlines of the constitutional Jurispru- 
dence of the United States ; designed as a Text- 
book for Lecturers, as a Class-hook for Academies 
and common Schools, and. as a Manual for popu- 
lar use. By William Alexander Duer, LL.D. 
President of Columbia College, in the City of 
New York" 



SECTION XVIII. 

COMPOSITION SHOULD BE PRACTISED IN DISTRICT 
SCHOOLS.* 

Composition is but little attended to in our com- 
mon schools. Scholars are seldom required to com- 
bine and arrange their ideas ; and they rarely put 
their knowledge of any subject into the form of a 
written language. This is one of the great defects 
in the present system of teaching. There are several 
reasons for this. To compose well is not a neces- 
sary qualification in the teacher, under the present 
system of inspection. In ninety-nine cases out of 

* The paragraphs having quotation marks, are from Wheat- 
ley's Rhetoric, — an admirable work. 



190 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

a hundred, the inspectors never inquire or ascertain 
whether or not the candidate can think naturally" 
and connectedly on any one subject, and clothe his 
thoughts with language which is appropriate and 
grammatical : and the consequence is, that but few 
teachers compose with ease or correctness. 

What they perform with difficulty and imperfectly, 
they will not feel disposed (and if they did, would be 
unable) to teach others. Hence the art of composing 
has but very little importance in the estimation of 
the teacher, and is entirely disregarded by the scho- 
lar. Parents are not in the habit of composing, 
and take no pains to have the art taught their chil- 
dren. They are pleased when it is discovered that 
their child writes a good letter ; but the means of 
ensuring this excellence they wholly disregard. 

They seem to forget that the ability of expressing 
one's thoughts with readiness and perspicuity, is 
acquired only by long practice and good instruction. 
They do not see that an apprenticeship in this is as 
necessary as in any thing else ; thus, they do not 
consider that which would give their children this 
desirable qualification. 

" The scholars suppose composition a mystery ; 
something that does not belong to them, but to those 
who have great learning and a wonderful genius." 
They look upon it as a thing impossible that they 
should learn to write ; and what they regard so far 
beyond their reach, they never make any efforts to 
obtain. I know of nothing for which scholars 
usually have such an abhorrence, and which they 
make such efforts to shun, as composition. They 
struggle with the vacant, undisciplined mind till 
they become exhausted, and then give up in despair. 

"They feel that their labour has been fruitless and 
wearisome, and are heartily glad to escape, wishing 
never to resume the task again. 

" One cause of the difficulty is an improper choice 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 191 

of their subject. They generally select one which 
they know nothing of; one that would puzzle a 
skilful writer to handle intelligibly ; and one that is 
abstract and indefinite, and altogether above their 
comprehension. By trying to grasp subjects of this 
kind, the mind perceives nothing distinctly ; the 
thoughts become vague and uncertain, and the little 
that may be written, after much toil, is unconnected 
and dissatisfactory. 

'•'Another difficulty is, they think that they must 
write something that no one else has written, and 
that their very language must be in a new idiom, or 
else it cannot be considered as their own. Thus, by 
selecting subjects with which they are unacquainted, 
and which their minds are not able to investigate, 
and by supposing that something perfectly original 
and new must be produced, they put obstacles in the 
way which neither patience nor perseverance can 
overcome ; and, after repeated efforts, they consider 
composition to be something that some gifted few 
only have executed by a sort of magical and super- 
natural power. 

" In other arts, it is usual to begin, for the sake 
of practice, with the easiest ; but the reverse takes 
place in learning the art of composing. The scho- 
lar has a harder task assigned him, and one in which 
he is less likely to succeed than he will meet with 
in the actual business of life. The scholars choose 
such subjects that they know not what to say or 
how to say it. 

" They select subjects about which they have 
scarcely any information, and no interest, — concern- 
ing which they know little, and care still less. And 
hence it commonly happens, that an exercise, com- 
posed with diligent care by a young pupil, will be 
very greatly inferior to a real letter written by him 
to his friends on subjects that interest him. On real 
occasions of after-life, for which his school exercises 



192 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

were designed to prepare him, he will find that he 
writes both better and with more facility than on the 
artificial occasion, as it may be called, of composing 
a declamation. And he will discover that he has 
been attempting to learn the easier by practising the 
harder. 

"But, what is worse, it will often happen that such 
exercises will have formed a habit of stringing to- 
gether empty commonplaces and vapid declamations; 
of multiplying words, and spreading out the matter 
thin ; of composing in a stiff, artificial, and frigid 
manner; and that this habit will more or less cling 
through life to one who has been thus trained, and 
will infect all his future compositions. 

" The only preventive of these evils is a most 
scrupulous care in the selection of such subjects for 
exercises as are likely to be interesting to the pupil, 
and on which he has, or may (with pleasure, and 
without much toil) acquire sufficient information. 
Such subjects will of course vary, according to the 
learner's age and intellectual advancement ; but they 
had better be rather below than much above him. 
Compositions on such subjects, and in a free, natural, 
and simple style, may be thought puerile by those 
who practise the opposite mode of teaching; but 
you will see a picture of the writer himself; boyish, 
indeed, it may be, in looks and stature, in dress and 
demeanour, but lively, unfettered, and natural, giv- 
ing a fair promise for manhood ; and, in short, what 
a boy should be. In education, we should consider 
what is becoming and appropriate in each period of 
life. 

" First, subjects for composition should be drawn 
from the studies the pupil is engaged in ; relating, 
for instance, to the characters or incidents of any 
history he may be reading. Secondly, subjects 
drawn from any conversation he may have listened 
to (with interest) from his seniors ; or, thirdly, re- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 193 

lating to the amusements, familiar occurrences, and 
every-day transactions which are likely to have 
formed the topics of conversation among his fami- 
liar friends. These subjects may be intermingled 
with as great a variety as possible. 

" And the teacher should frequently recall to his 
own mind these two considerations ; first, that since 
the benefit proposed does not consist in the intrinsic 
value of the composition, but in the exercise of the 
pupil's mind, it matters not how insignificant the 
subject may be, if it will but interest him, and here- 
by afford him such exercise. And, secondly, that 
the younger and more backward each scholar is, the 
more unfit,will he be for abstract speculations, and 
the less remote must be the subject proposed, from 
those individual objects and occurrences which 
always form the first beginning of the furniture of 
the youthful mind." 

Instruction and exercise in the art of composition 
ought to have a prominent place in all our primary 
schools. Collecting and arranging their ideas would 
teach the scholars to think. It would teach them 
to think patiently and correctly; and it would con- 
fine the action of the mind to one subject. Thus, 
the exercise would correct the greatest of all evils 
in our systems of education, viz. the want of clear, 
connected thought. 

It would do more ; it would show the scholar 
how much he knew of the subject which he has 
been studying. Scholars are generally very much 
deceived respecting the real amount of their know- 
ledge. They think they know much more than 
they actually do. After they have read a book 
through, or finished a study, a few general ideas or 
prominent outlines may be remembered, and from 
these the scholar supposes he has mastered the 
whole. But when he is required to communicate 
his knowledge, or to put it into a composition, he 
R 



194 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

finds that he has in reality but very little to say ; 
and he says this little in a very awkward, unintelli- 
gible manner. 

When the book is laid aside, he finds, that he is 
unable to go alone; and, as respects intelligence for 
practical purposes, he is no more improved than he 
was before he read the book. But if scholars were 
in the habit of composing, they would think when 
they read; and, by writing their thoughts, they 
would know how much they have learned by read- 
ing. Practice in composition would give scholars 
the power of expressing themselves with ease and 
elegance. 

We seldom find one, even among the most learned, 
who possesses this faculty ; and the reason is, they 
have not been in the habit of arranging their know- 
ledge, and clothing it with expressive language. Let 
all, then, who would learn to think, and who wish 
to ascertain how much they really know, and to 
have the power of imparting knowledge to others, 
pay close attention to the exercises in composition. 

To write a composition is not so difficult a thing 
as scholars imagine. He who can talk, can write ; 
and if he can talk correctly, he can write correctly. 
Composition is nothing more than conversation put 
on paper. 

And yet, I have seen lads who would continue a 
narrative, or a debating speech for a half hour or 
more, and still not be able in the same time to put 
three sentences upon paper. If they had been 
taught what composition is, and had practised it, 
writing would be as easy as speaking, There is no 
mystery in composition ; there is nothing in it to 
torture the mind ; it is as easy, and as simple as 
conversation ; and all may learn to write with fa- 
cility and accuracy. Let there be the right kind 
of practice, and any one will soon possess the ability. 

The teacher should require every scholar, who 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 195 

can read and write, to produce a composition every 
week. He should see that the proper subjects were 
selected, and that the scholars had suitable assist- 
ance. The compositions may be handed to the 
teacher, who should examine and correct them. 
He should so point out the defects, that the scholars 
would perceive and avoid them. After the compo- 
sitions have been corrected, the teacher may allot a 
certain hour, or half day in a week, for reading them 
publicly to the school. He need not mention the 
writer's name, nor publicly the corrections he has 
made. This exercise, if judiciously conducted, may 
be made pleasing to the teacher, and of the greatest 
benefit to the scholar. 



SECTION XIX. 

SOME OP THE FIRST AND GREAT TRUTHS OP NATU- 
RAL HISTORY SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN ELEMENT- 
ARY SCHOOLS. 

This useful and intensely interesting subject is 
almost entirely neglected in our common schools. 
Not one pupil in a thousand ever learns a single 
lesson, in either the mineral, vegetable, or animal 
kingdoms. The young farmer learns nothing of the 
varieties of soil, its nature and composition, and its 
peculiar preparation for different grains, — he obtains 
no knowledge of the nature and growth of vege- 
tables, or the properties and influence of the "life- 
giving air." The most important information for 
his business, the school does not give him. 

The little knowledge that he acquires of his busi- 
ness, he is obliged to get by ignorant experience and 



196 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

blind observation. The mechanic does not study 
the nature, pliability, and uses of the minerals and 
metals ; nor does he learn the beauty, strength, and 
durability of the various timbers. The labourer in 
his experiments has no science to assist him ; he is 
preparing nature to administer to his necessities, 
without knowing her rules of action ! He knows 
nothing, for his school has given him no opportunity 
to know of his own physical nature, nor of the 
properties of the natural world around him. 

He cannot, therefore, conform his life and conduct 
to the relations which exist between matter and his 
physical nature. He has no means of foreseeing the 
infringement of the organic laws. In his school he 
has never learned the most common and simple 
truths in physiology or anatomy. The structure 
and uses, the layers, the mucous coat, &c. of the skin, 
the common school student learns nothing of. 

He is not told that the skin is the seat of perspi- 
ration — the regulator of animal heat, and the seat of 
absorption. He does not see the sympathy between 
the skin and the other organs of life, nor the causes 
of suppressed perspiration, (an action which brings 
on the most of our disorders,) nor the connexion 
between the skin and the nervous system. Being 
ignorant of this vital organ, he abuses and neglects 
it. He gives no attention to suitable clothing, to 
ventilation, nor to washing and bathing ; for he has 
no information on these subjects. 

He has learned nothing of the structure and action 
of the muscles, nor of the degree and kind of exer- 
cise which they require to give them strength, elas- 
ticity, and health. He has no acquaintance whatever 
with anatomy, and knows not that the bones are 
composed of animal and earthy matter, and that they 
are essential to motion, and to the security of the 
vital organs : he does not study the growth and 
decay of the bones, nor perceive the advantages of 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 197 

their vitality and insensibility, and their adaptation 
to contained parts. 

Of the nature and use of respiration, the structure 
of the lungs, the necessity of pure air, and the healthy 
condition of the digestive organs, the common school 
pupils never hear or read a word. They grow up, 
and live entirely ignorant of the nervous system, 
knowing nothing of its functions and education ; 
nothing of these great inlets of knowledge, and in- 
struments of pleasure and pain. 

They are not taught even the causes of good or 
bad health, nor the physical consequences of im- 
moral conduct ! ! Not one truth of this science 
which shows that man is " fearfully and wonderfully 
made," is taught in our district schools!! This 
need not be so, for there are no truths more simple 
or pleasing, than some of the most important facts 
of physiology. There should be a text-book on 
this subject for our common schools. 

Although there are " sermons in stones," they are 
not "delivered" to the common school student. 
Neither his teacher nor his books speak even of the 
first principles of geology or mineralogy. The 
earth, our common mother — the womb and the 
grave of every living object — the great companion 
and benefactor of the farmer, has, in the country, 
scarcely a teacher to make known her nature, her 
elements, and her energies. That w r hich the agri- 
culturist has to labour with, and from which he ob- 
tains his " blessings and his bread," forms no part 
of the farmer's education. 

Does not the neglect of even one department of 
natural history, show a great deficiency in our com- 
mon school education? But the vegetable kingdom 
is as little attended to. Plants, flowers, and trees, 
find no teacher in district schools. The places they 
enliven with their freshness, sweeten with their 
fragrance, and cool with their shade, never speak of 
r 2 



198 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

their bounty or their beauty, their wisdom or their 
Author. Many of those who spend their lives in 
nursing flowers and cultivating plants, know nothing 
of their structure or their organs, nor even their 
artificial or natural classification! What additional 
interest would the farmer feel amidst the freedom 
and the freshness of his labour, if he could be en- 
lightened with even a faint ray from the science of 
botany! But it would be a lonely and wandering 
ray that would enter the room of the district 
school. 

There should be a text-book adapted to our ele- 
mentary schools. It may be called, " Botany for 
beginners." Its lessons should be simple, and its 
arrangement scientific ; but not dry and technical. 
It should treat of " practical botany," as far as pos- 
sible. It should speak of the principles of organiza- 
tion which is possessed by all plants, and which 
separates them from all inorganic matter — their 
analogy to animals, having sap for blood, woody 
fibres for bone, pith for brain and nerve, and bark 
instead of skin ; that their leaves imbibe air as we 
breathe it — that they require food as we do, though 
their leaves and roots are their mouths — that the 
digestive powers of plants are as perfect as they are 
in some of the lower animals — that they imbibe and 
expire an aerial fluid as we do, and that they emit 
oxygen gas while we absorb it. 

It should show that earth is not so essential to 
vegetable growth as moisture, and that light is neces- 
sary to make plants flower and bear fruit. It should 
point out the nutriment of plants, and show that 
it is various combinations of inorganic matter, such as 
earths, salts, water, or the gases, — that they are, like 
animals, injured by too great a supply of food ; for 
this reason, wheat will not grow in any of the Poly- 
nesian islands, and runs too much to straw in many 
parts of the United States. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 199 

It should enlarge on vegetable unprovability, 
showing that animals have this power far less than 
vegetables. It should show the wonderful transfor- 
mations which have arisen from this improving prin- 
ciple. The rose is the product of cultivation ; the 
original plant being the common wild brier. Our 
plums are the descendants of the sloe ; the peach 
and the nectarines of the common almond tree ; and 
filberts are the improvements of the wild hazel. 
Apples are the cultivated successors of the small 
sour crab, which the swine will scarcely eat. The 
original pear is a pithy, hard, crude fruit. Our dif- 
ferent grains were once in a state very like grass, 
and our domestic vegetables are the artificial pro- 
ducts of human skill and vegetable improvability. 

From this improving and undecaying principle 
in plants, the earth can never have a superabundant 
population. But nature is so bountiful in her spon- 
taneous productions, that no art has been so little 
studied as agriculture, and none so little improved. 
We as yet know nothing of the productiveness of 
vegetable nature ; increasing the number of plants, 
only increases their productive power. Nature is 
improving and expanding before us every day, and 
her productive laws are indefinite. 

This the farmer and the horticulturist should 
know, and they should obtain such an elementary 
knowledge of the vegetable kingdom, while attend- 
ing to their education, that they may have the as- 
sistance of science in their important and delightful 
labours. The vegetable kingdom, in its varied 
flowers, foliage and stems, its graceful and delicate 
expansions, its playful branches and gentle move- 
ments, presents one of the most interesting volumes 
that the scholar can ever read. 

This volume, so full of wisdom, elegance, and 
religion, should be open in our district schools. It 
should be read by all the scholars, and expounded 



200 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

by every teacher. The study of the vegetable 
kingdom has an intellectual and a religious influence, 
and we have aright to infer, that this was the design 
of the Creator when he willed them into existence. 
They are pledges of his affection to the human race — 
sigms of love to prove he thinks of man. Does it 
not become us then, by studying them, to prove that 
we think of our Creator ? 

Zoology, and ornithology likewise, should be 
studied in every elementary school ; and when he 
turns to the animal kingdom, what a vast volume 
lies before the student, of tastes, and customs, and 
manners, and propensities, and passions, and con- 
summate instincts ! ! Here is a combination of al- 
lurements that draw us, and fascinate us with a magi- 
cal captivity. There is in the realm of vegetables, 
every thing that can delight the eye or gratify the 
taste ; it is all simple, splendid, variegated, exquisite! 
But in animals we see the faculties of the human 
mind ; senses, memory, imagination, the principle 
of imitation, curiosity, cunning, ingenuity, respect 
for superiors, are all discoverable in the brute crea- 
tion. What a volume for our study ! ! 

Yet it is not made a text-book, or a reading book 
in the district school. The very animals which the 
farmer raises, and the mechanic employs, are never 
made a study in the whole course of education. 
The former should know the different species, and 
the great varieties of each species — he should under- 
stand their nature, their growth, their congenial 
habitudes, and their favourite and wholesome nourish- 
ment. If he has this knowledge, he will be making 
improvements not only for his own good, but for 
the good of the whole human race. The farmer and 
the mechanic in the country have peculiar advan- 
tages for studying natural history; for they are daily 
seeing and handling the objects of their lessons. 

To facilitate the study of this delightful science,, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 201 

there should be a cabinet of minerals, an herbarium 
&c. in every district. This cabinet may be placed 
in the school-house, and under the superintendence 
of the schoolmaster. After a small collection of 
minerals and plants is made, the teacher should give 
appropriate lectures on them, two or three times a 
week, to all the members of the school. This may 
be done in addition to the daily recitations of the 
natural history class. Knowledge of this kind is 
the most valuable that man can acquire. It enriches 
his life with conveniences, enlarges his views, and 
lays a foundation for rational piety. 

The Great Creator has made every object on the 
theatre of the universe, and stamped upon every 
thing a divine impress. Whether we look upon a 
planet or a plant, we shall see that they are the 
works of God, and that they have a title to our high- 
est admiration ; " for in wisdom has he made them 
all." "The earth is full of his riches, and the 
heavens declare his glory." All that we see is 
God — all nature is his awful temple, and all the 
sciences are porticoes which open into it. 



SECTION XX. 

CONVENTION OP TEACHERS. 

It is my earnest desire that conferences be formed among the 
schoolmasters of each canton. — Cousin's Report. 

How shall teachers become better prepared for 
their profession ? How can they be continually 
improving their minds and their systems of instruc- 
tion? And how shall every teacher receive the 
light which the more experienced are constantly 



202 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

throwing upon the subject of instruction? We 
know of no means so common to all, and so favour- 
able, as county conventions of teachers.* Hereto- 
fore there has been but very little communication 
between teachers. The improvements which one 
has made, have not been made known to others ; the 
incompetency of teachers, and the bad systems of 
instruction, have been concealed ; and united efforts 
of teachers have not been made to elevate and honour 
their profession. 

Other classes of men have had their conventions. 
Men of science, ministers, and statesmen, to ensure 
enlightened and united operations, appoint their 
conventions to redress wrongs, correct errors, and 
make known the improvements and able suggestions 
that may be discovered or proposed by any one of 
the parts. The wisdom and experience of these 
conventions not only enlighten the people and sit 
in judgment upon their errors, but produce through- 
out the whole country similarity of feeling, and 
harmony of effort. 

For the peace of the church, the advancement of 
science, and the prosperity of the country, such 
conventions are absolutely necessary. But are not 
conventions of teachers equally necessary for the 
improvement of our schools ? Does not the difficult 
and responsible profession of teaching require all 
the light and knowledge that can be obtained on this 
subject ? Does not the incompetency of teachers 
invite all the aid that can be furnished from those 
who are better qualified by experience, and from 

* It will therefore be more expedient to form small societies 
or meetings of schoolmasters, for three or four weeks, in order 
that they may go over, methodically and in concert, some 
special portion of what they have to teach, as, for instance, 
arithmetic, singing, the German language or religion. 

This plan will have the advantage of always bringing toge- 
ther men of equal attainments on one single point, which will 
thus be studied more fundamentally. — Cousin. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 203 

other literary men? Certainly, every one will say; 
such assistance is highly important ; it would afford 
that necessary aid which teachers now have no 
means of obtaining.* 

Yet so great is the apathy of the people, that we 
seldom hear of a teachers' convention. And when 
their proceedings are made known we find that but 
few attended, and that but very little was done. 
The manner in which these conventions are an- 
nounced and conducted, excites but little interest ; 
and as yet, but a small number of teachers have 
been profited by them. But how shall teachers 
improve themselves if not by such conventions? 
Works on education have a very limited circulation. 

Not one teacher out of a hundred reads any thing 
on the subject ; nor will they read before the living 
voice excites their attention. There are but few 
seminaries for educating teachers, and rarely a lec- 
ture delivered on school-keeping. Teachers are 
seldom qualified when they enter into the profes- 
sion, and they have neither the assistance of teach- 
ers in the vicinity, nor intelligence from abroad, 
either from books, or the speaking lecturer. 

This should not be so. There are means which 
teachers may use to prepare themselves for their 
profession, and for improving themselves while 
engaged in its duties. And I know of none so ad- 
vantageous to teachers, and that is attended with so 
little expense and within the reach of all, as frequent 

* This excellent measure recalls to me another of the same 
kind, which, though it forms no part of the internal regula- 
tions of normal schools, has equally in view the improvement 
of the acting - "masters ; I mean those conferences of the school- 
master of a circle or district, in which each communicates to 
his brethren his own methods and experience, and all are en- 
lightened by the interchange of views and thoughts. These 
conferences are voluntary, it is true ; but the government en- 
courages them, counsels them, and often arranges them itself 
by means of the school-inspectors. — Cousin's Report; 



204 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

town and county conventions. If these are gene- 
rally announced and faithfully attended, they will 
not only be highly interesting to teachers, but of the 
greatest benefit to our schools. 

Town conventions of teachers may be held every 
month, and county conventions should be called 
every three months. They should be attended, not 
only by teachers, but by all the friends of education. 
Each individual should go prepared to contribute to 
their interest and usefulness, and with a hearty de- 
sire to promote the general cause of education. Each 
county association should have a correspondence 
with similar associations throughout the United 
States. By this communication all the improve- 
ments or changes which have been made may be 
made known. 

The light which has appeared in any one favoured 
spot may shine into every part of the Union. The 
books which are published, either to be used in 
school or for the improvement of schools, may be 
made known, together with the examination which 
others have given them. The periodical works on 
education may be mentioned and examined. Notice 
of literary conventions may be given, and delegates 
appointed to attend them. Papers from the state or 
parent society may be read, and reports from the 
county or auxiliary associations made out and sent 
to the parent society. 

It should be the object of these conventions and 
communications with other associations to discover 
the origin of the defects in the present systems of 
instruction — to ascertain the actual condition of the 
schools throughout the United States — to inquire 
into the character and qualification of the teachers 
of these schools — to find out the number of children 
in the United States who are in school, and the 
number who have not, or do not use, the means of 
education — to ascertain the progress the scholars 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 205 

make, and the amount of knowledge which they 
acquire in these schools. 

To discover the interest which parents take in 
the education of their children, and the protection 
and assistance which literary men give to primary 
education — to convince the people of the necessity 
of general intelligence in a free government, and to 
make known the duties which every one owes to 
the free institutions of his country. Such are some 
of the high and important objects of teachers' con- 
ventions. But these are of a general nature, and 
belong to the welfare of the whole country. 

The mutual improvement of teachers is one of 
the first objects of these conventions. To render 
this mutual instruction, each teacher, before the con- 
vention, should describe his system of instruction, 
and his form of government. Let each one state 
his experience in teaching the several branches of 
an elementary education, and that school discipline 
which he has found, after a fair trial, to be the best. 
From this interchange of views on the best method 
of teaching and governing, many valuable sugges- 
tions will be elicited, and many evils and defects 
disclosed. 

In this way, teachers will compare themselves 
with each other, and each one may be profited by 
the wisdom and experience of the whole. During 
the interval of time between the conventions, the 
teachers and friends of education should collect 
what information they can from abroad on the sub- 
ject of instruction, and make it known for the bene- 
fit of all at the meeting of the convention. 

Individuals should be appointed to deliver lectures 
before these conventions ; the object of the lectures 
being either to illustrate or simplify the branches 
which are taught in our common schools, or to make 
known the best methods of imparting instruction. 
Discussions, also, should be held on the best method 
S 



206 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

of teaching children their letters : and discussions 
likewise on the best method of teaching reading, 
writing, arithmetic, geography, and grammar.* 

Discussions on the government of children should 
be held, and on the best method of making scholars 
feel an interest in their studies, and also how a 
school may be made pleasant. In carrying forward 
such discussions, and in delivering lectures before 
the convention, each teacher should be willing to 
perform his part, and desirous of making all the 
transactions before the convention highly interest- 
ing and profitable to all who attend. 

By such a free interchange of thoughts and senti- 
ments on the business of their profession, teachers 
may render valuable assistance to each other, and 
create that harmony of feeling and good-will which 
is so necessary for their own happiness and the 
honour of their profession. From a want of this 
interchange of views and feelings, and the influence 
of such associations, teachers have not been pro- 
verbial in their friendship for each other, but rather 
the contrary. Frequent meetings would make them 
better understand and appreciate each other. 

Teachers likewise, at these conventions, should 
propose means for improving the intellectual condi- 
tion of those parts of the country which they repre- 
sent. They may excite an interest in learned and 
benevolent men towards these primary schools. 
They may persuade parents to procure useful books 
and periodical works for their children, and to give 

* It is no less the object of these conferences, to furnish 
the masters with an opportunity of gaining new lights and of 
extending their own knowledge. Questions in grammar, in 
the German tongue, in arithmetic, &c. will therefore always 
form part of the business of the meeting; as likewise, the 
reading of works on education, and other books which are 
likely to furnish matter useful to schoolmasters ; the practice 
of singing, and reciprocal communication of the experience 
of each. — Cousin's Report. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 207 

them a fair opportunity for the improvement of their 
minds. Teachers may make known the uncomfort- 
able condition of school-houses, and the general want 
of co-operation on the part of parents. 

If a statement of these evils should be made, the 
districts would feel it their interest and their plea- 
sure to pay more attention to the education of their 
children, and their teachers' comforts and compen- 
sation. We believe that teachers, by frequent con- 
ventions of this nature, have not only the power of 
making themselves better qualified for their busi- 
ness, but of removing the great indifference which 
now prevails on the subject of education. 



SECTION XXI. 

THE LOCATION AND STRUCTURE OP SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

Many of our district school-houses are among the 
very worst specimens of architecture. The con- 
struction of these edifices has received but little at- 
tention or aid from the more intelligent part of the 
community, and has been left to the care of those 
who have known or thought of no other model but 
the old building, and who have studied their pecu- 
niary interest more attentively than the education 
and comforts of their children. I know of nothing 
among us that brings so great a reproach upon our 
affluence and intelligence as the low, dark, filthy 
appearance of many of our district school-houses. 

There is no part of the, means of education that 
makes a stronger demand upon the learned and be- 
nevolent, and none which requires a more thorough 
reform, than the location, size, structure, and fix- 



208 DISTRICT SCHOOL, 

tures of the buildings in which nineteen citizens out 
of twenty receive their first impressions, their first 
character, and the principal part of their education. 

Objects which are constantly before the eye, 
although they may be inanimate, have a wonderful 
influence upon the mind. This being acknowledged, 
the situation of a school-house becomes a matter of 
great importance. But I would ask the reader to 
think for a moment of the location of those he may 
have witnessed. 

They are frequently standing on a bleak, barren, 
stony eminence, where the winds and storms have 
an unbroken, chilling sweep, and the hot rays of the 
summer's sun one constant burning glare, where 
there is neither grass nor leaf, but heated, drifting 
sand, or sharp and flinty rocks. Such is the burn- 
ing, desolate, dreary situation of many. Others are 
placed on some marshy, refuse piece of land, where 
the stagnant collections of water, and the noxious 
vapours poison the atmosphere, and make the situa- 
tion gloomy and sickly ; and others again close by 
the road's side, where the passing of travellers and 
the rattling of carriages divert and distract the mind. 

In addition to these gloomy, uncomfortable, un- 
healthy situations, and constant interruptions from 
travellers, there is frequently found close by the 
school-house a blacksmith's shop with its incessant 
pounding, and the cooper's shop with its constant 
"rub-a-dub," or the public inn, with all its noise and 
bustle ; so that if there is not bedlam in the school- 
house, there is all around it. And how unfit the 
business and company of such places for children! 
How demoralizing the influence on the scholars, and 
how offensive and annoying to the teacher ! 

The structure of schooj-houses is frequently as 
injurious and unpleasant as the location. They are 
often low, and cramped, and miserably ventilated ; 
the room sometimes is filled with smoke, and always 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 209 

with impure air ; the seats so high that the scholars 
are unable to touch their feet to the floor, but must 
sit bolt upright, without a back-piece, perched be- 
tween the heavens and the earth ; the writing-desk, 
in front, as high as the eyes of many of the occu- 
pants ; the seats so arranged that the movement of 
one disturbs the whole seat, or in such a position 
that the teacher finds it difficult to get near the 
pupils ; and the windows so scarce, or so small, or 
so filled up with wooden panes or hats, that but little 
light can enter, making the whole appearance dismal 
and painful in the extreme. 

how entirely opposite to every thing that should 
accompany and assist the mental and physical de- 
velopment of children ! In this torturing condition, 
and in this dismal receptacle, which seems to be 
regarded as a necessary evil, the children are to 
remain for weeks, and months, and years. Can it 
be thought strange that they should dislike their 
studies ? Can it be thought strange that they should 
rejoice when they are no longer compelled to enter 
this abode ? Who would not "hate instruction !" 

1 would by no means say that all school-houses 
are of this description ; but I think that every reader 
has seen many that were attended with some of the 
inconveniences, if not all, that I have mentioned. I 
would earnestly request all to notice the construc- 
tion and location of these houses, when they are 
travelling through any part of the United States. 
In the state of New York, and in the New England 
states, these buildings are superior to those in the 
other states, but my remarks are applicable even to 
many of the school-houses of New England and 
New York. 

But as my desire is not so much to point out 
defects as to suggest remedies, and to make known 
well-tested improvements, I will make some remarks 
s 2 



210 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

upon the proper location, structure, size, fixtures, and 
appendages of school-houses. 

And first, the location. This should be on a piece 
of firm ground, at some distance from the road, and 
where the air has a free circulation. The place 
should be quiet, and protected from the winds and 
the rays of the sun by a surrounding grove. The 
natural scenery around the house should be varied 
and beautiful ; and this is highly important, r.s all 
natural objects as well as individuals have an influ- 
ence in making us cheerful or otherwise, in propor- 
tion as they appear pleasing and agreeable. 

When the parent selects a site for his own dwell- 
ing, he does not choose the most worthless corner 
of his farm, nor a marshy, gloomy spot, but a place 
that is dry, light, and airy, where the natural scenery 
is rich and beautiful, and where he will not be in- 
commoded by others. Should he not be equally 
solicitous for the comfort, health, and happiness of 
his children, by selecting a pleasant situation where 
they are to be educated ? 

A child is educated by other teachers than books 
and schoolmasters. Every object that he sees, 
whether animate or inanimate, teaches him ; every 
flower, and plant, and shrub, and tree, " lessons of 
heavenly wisdom teach ;" and every running brook, 
and singing bird, are teachers; the air, and the earth, 
and the ocean teach ; and where they are the most 
eloquent, parents should place the infant mind. 

There is a difference in nature's teachers, and 
parents may choose the wisest and the most winning 
for their children's tutors. Then, let a lovely, de- 
lightful spot be selected for the school-house ; let 
every thing around it be comfortable and cheerful. 
Let the school be removed from the noise and sight 
of business, and from every thing that would en- 
danger the body or divert the mind. 

There are some districts which are not privileged 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 211 

with such locations ; and the parents in these must 
choose the best spot they have. But how often have 
I seen a school-house standing in the very worst place 
in the whole district, because that spot happened to 
be central, according to the surveyor's chain, when, 
within fifty or a hundred rods, a shady, quiet, retreat, 
a delightful place for a school might have been chosen. 

The average number of children who are fit sub- 
jects for the school, in the districts of New York, is 
about sixty. To accommodate this number, the 
school-house should be one story and a half high, 
forty feet long, and thirty in breadth. This height 
will admit of a high ceiling, which is of great im- 
portance in a room that is filled. The walls should 
be overla} T ed with boards, as high as the heads of 
the scholars, and the remaining part of the wall and 
the ceiling kept pure and bright with whitewash. 

The floor should be level, having an elevation 
opposite the door for the teacher. The stove should 
stand near the door, to let the current of air which 
rushes in drive that which is near the stove and 
heated to the distant parts of the room. There 
should be two entrance doors, an inner and an outer 
one. The outer one opening into an entry or hall, 
of sufficient size for the scholars to place their hats, 
cloaks, and bonnets. The inner door, opposite the 
outer one, and opening from the hall into the school- 
room. 

There should be three windows in each side of 
the room, and two in the end opposite the door and 
hall. The lower part of the windows should be at 
least five feet from the floor ; and the upper sash 
should be lowered when air is admitted, instead of 
raising the under one. Windows of this height from 
the floor, and of this construction, have many advan- 
tages. They prevent the scholars from looking out ; 
and being farther from their reach, are less liable to 
injury. The scholars will not be so much exposed 



212 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

to the air when they are lowered, and they will per- 
mit the impure air which rises towards the ceiling 
to escape. The windows should have blinds on the 
outside, and curtains on the inside. 

The desks should be so constructed, that when 
one moves, he need not disturb the others ; and so 
arranged that the teacher may see all the scholars 
in the face, and have easy access to any one of them. 
The benches should vary in height, so that they 
may suit scholars of different sizes. The height 
should always be such that the scholar may rest his 
feet upon the floor. The edge of the desk, next to 
the scholar, should be directly over the edge of the 
seat. The distance between the surface of the seat 
and the surface of the desk should vary at least 
twelve inches among the different desks of the 
school, that they may be appropriate for large and 
small scholars. 

The upper surface of the desk should be nearly 
horizontal, and about three inches higher than the 
occupant's elbow when the arm is flexed. In 
many school-houses, the surface of the desk is so 
oblique, that the pupils find it difficult to keep their 
books and slates upon them. Others are so low 
that the scholars almost lie down upon them, and in 
this way remain in a very unhealthy posture. The 
body should be kept erect, and the limbs as nearly 
as possible in a natural position. If the desk is 
high, the arm and shoulder must be raised, and the 
wrist bent, and this will soon occasion pain, and 
distort the body. How often are the lungs diseased, 
and the digestive organs deranged, by too low desks ? 
And, on the other hand, how many distorted and 
deformed bodies, from having the writing arm raised 
up too high ? Teachers should be careful that every 
scholar has a suitable seat and desk. 

School-houses are poorly ventilated. The breath- 
ing of each individual in the room destroys nearly 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 213 

a gallon of air every minute; and the effluvia that 
is constantly escaping from the body passes into the 
air of the room. From these two causes, the air in 
the room soon loses its vital principle, and becomes 
loaded with disease. Breathing this polluted atmos- 
phere produces the pale faces and meagre forms we 
so often see among scholars. It is this infected 
atmosphere that makes the teacher's employment 
so unhealthy. 

It is the poisonous state of the air that occasions 
the drowsiness and stupor among the scholars. It 
is the impure air that produces languor, loss of 
appetite, and disease in the lungs. It is a wonder 
that scholars preserve either health or activity. How 
many have lost their health, and destroyed their 
constitution, by endeavouring to improve the mind, 
but neglected the body ! Let teachers, then, see 
that their school-rooms are well ventilated, and that 
their scholars take proper exercise in the open air. 

Attached to every school-house should be a play- 
ground for the scholars. This will keep them from 
the dangers of the highway, and from the cultivated 
fields in the vicinity. This ground should be free 
from every thing that might injure the scholars. 
Every school-house, likewise, should have an out- 
building, for preserving the wood from the weather. 
This building will seldom be filled, and will serve 
to protect the scholars from the storms, during the 
moments of recreation. 

There should be a good spring of water, or a 
pump, near the school-house. This convenience 
is not sufficiently attended to. The scholars are 
obliged to disturb and injure the property of the 
nearest neighbour, and sometimes to go a great dis- 
tance whenever they wish to drink. A watering- 
place should be provided for the school at a proper 
distance, and kept in such a condition that the 
younger scholars may obtain drink without diffi- 
culty or danger. 



214 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 



SECTION XXII. 

RHETORIC IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.* 

There is scarcely a school-boy in the United 
States "three feet high," who has not been told, 
and repeatedly told, of the necessity of " learning 
how" to speak. Scholars are by no means to sup- 
pose that the Author of their being has given them 
the powers of utterance ; these powers, they are 
told, which will enable them to speak to their fel- 
low men, must be acquired from an instructer. 
The prevalence of these sentiments has brought 
before the public a great number of systems and 
teachers of elocution. The instructers in this art 
tell us where to find the emphatic words, where to 
suspend, raise, or lower the voice, and when and 
how to give the thought the proper action. 

This encouragement, and the generally received 
notion, that every one must learn how to speak in 
some way or other, has introduced these artificial 
rules and instructions of rhetoric, not only into our 
professional seminaries, colleges, and academies, 
but also into our primary and higher schools. Our 
district and public schools have their weekly season 
for declamation ; and every lad, big enough to say, 
" Though I am young," &c. comes forward, and, 
automaton-like, goes through with his oration, ac- 
companying it with a certain number of changes of 
position, and elevations of the arm. 

The practice of learning to speak has become so 
general and so popular, that the teachers of our 
elementary schools consider it a necessary part of 

* The paragraphs having quotation marks are from Wheat- 
tey's Rhetoric. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 215 

a republican education to make their scholars go 
through all the stages of debate, declamation, and 
dialogue, enlivened occasionally with a little comedy 
or tragedy. "Now what must be the effect of all 
this artificial training ? What must be its influence 
on the school-boy, when neither the sentiments he 
utters, nor the character he assumes are his own, or 
supposed to be so, or anywise connected with him ; 
when neither the place, the occasion, nor the au- 
dience which are actually present, have any thing 
to do with the substance of what is said." 

" Almost every one, even if they have not paid 
any critical attention to the various modulations of 
the human voice, has observed the different tones 
of voice which the same individual makes use of in 
conversation, from those which he uses while read- 
ing, or speaking in public. So wide is the difference 
of the tones employed on these two occasions, that 
it seems as if two systems (one for conversation, 
and one for reading and speaking) had been exer- 
cising the voice of every individual we meet with." 
And this, in fact, is the case. Nature directs our 
conversation, but art has taught us how to read and 
speak. 

Says Sheridan, in his " Art of Reading," " I have 
often tried an experiment to show the great differ- 
ence between these two modes of utterance, the 
natural and the artificial ; which was, that when I 
found a person of vivacity delivering his sentiments 
with energy, and of course with all that variety of 
tones which nature furnishes, I have taken occasion 
to put something into his hands to read, as relative 
to the topic of conversation ; and it was surprising 
to see what an immediate change there was in his 
delivery from the moment he began to read. Ji 
different pitch of voice took place of his natural 
one, and a tedious uniformity of cadence suc- 
ceeded to a spirited variety; insomuch that a blind 



216 DISTRICT SCHOOL, 

man could hardly conceive the person who read to 
be the same who had just been speaking." 

Does good reading or speaking require this differ- 
ence ? If so, they require something unnatural, for 
we see that men converse in their natural tones. 
But to read or speak in tones and manners which 
are unnatural, and therefore artificial, will never 
make good reading or speaking; but it will cause 
just such a delivery as almost every individual by 
his instructions is prepared to make, — stiff, mea- 
sured, affected, powerless, and in the highest man- 
ner offensive. Such is the effect of not preserving 
the natural tones and manner while reading or 
speaking, and also of attending to artificial schemes 
of rhetoric. 

" The advantage of a natural manner, that is, a 
manner one naturally falls into when he is really 
speaking in earnest, may be estimated from this 
consideration ; that there are few who do not con- 
verse so as to give effect to what they are saying. 
Every one, when conversing earnestly, delivers his 
sentiments with much more clearness, force, and 
elegance than he would read the same sentiment if 
it was written down in a book. 

" Our advice, then, would be, to follow the natural 
manner. The practical rule that we would recom- 
mend is, not only to omit any studied attention to 
the voice, but studiously to withdraw the thoughts 
from it, and to dwell as intently as possible on 
the sense; trusting to nature to suggest spon- 
taneously the proper emphasis and tones. 

" He who really understands what he is reading 
will be likely to read as if he understood it, and 
thus to make others understand it; and he who 
feels what he reads, and is absorbed with that feel- 
ing, will be likely to communicate the same im- 
pression to his hearers. But this cannot be the case 
if the speaker or reader is occupied with the thought 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 217 

of what their opinion will be of his delivery, and 
how his voice ought to be regulated ; if, in short, 
he is thinking of himself, and of course taking his 
attention from that which ought to occupy it exclu- 
sively. 

" Some may suppose that the natural manner 
which we have recommended, amounts to the same 
thing as taking no pains at all; and after trying 
the experiment by reading or speaking carelessly 
instead of naturally, their ill success will probably 
lead them to censure the proposed method. But 
it is no easy task to fix the mind on the meaning, 
in the manner, and to the degree now proposed. 
When one is reading any thing that is familiar, his 
thoughts are apt to wander to other subjects, though 
perhaps such as are connected with that which he 
is reading ; if, again, it be something new to him, 
he is apt (not indeed to wander to another subject) 
to get the start, as it were, of his readers, and to be 
thinking, while uttering each sentence, not of that, 
but of the sentence which comes next. 

"And in both cases, if he is careful to avoid those 
faults, and is desirous of reading well, it is a matter 
of no small difficulty, and calls for a constant effort 
to prevent the mind from wandering in another 
direction, viz. into thoughts respecting his own 
voice — respecting the effect produced by each 
sound — the approbation he hopes from the hearers, 
&c. And this is the prevailing fault of those who 
are commonly said to take great pains in their 
reading ; pains which will always be taken in vain, 
with a view to the true object to be aimed at, as 
long as the effort is thus applied in a wrong di- 
rection. 

" With a view, indeed, to a very different object, 

— the approbation bestowed on the reading, — this 

artificial delivery will often be more successful than 

the natural. Pompous spouting, and many other 

T 



218 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

descriptions of unnatural tone and measured cadence, 
are frequently admired as excellent reading and 
speaking ; which admiration is itself a proof that it 
is not deserved : for when the delivery is really 
good, the hearers (except any one who may delibe- 
rately set himself to observe and criticise) never 
think about it, but are exclusively occupied with 
the sense it conveys, and the feelings it excites. 

" He who reads in an artificial manner, makes a 
kind of running comment on all that is uttered, 
which says, ' I do not mean, think, or feel all this ; 
I only mean to recite it with propriety and deco- 
rum.' But he who has the energetic manner of 
true natural speech, means, thinks, and feels all he 
says ; and recites it with propriety and decorum in- 
deed, but not so as to make these take the least of 
the attention. 

" But the natural, colloquial style of delivery, 
should not be confounded with the negligent or the 
familiar. The natural style is one that is suited to 
the sense, the subject, the place, and the occasion; 
and this adaptation requires much intelligence, and 
a high sense of propriety. Thus, it will be seen, 
that there is considerable labour necessary in attain- 
ing the natural style of delivery. If we follow na- 
ture, there is no opportunity for imitation ; a true 
conception of the subject and the occasion is the 
only thing that can direct us. 

" But in all preparatory schools, where boys learn 
to speak, the whole attention of the orator and the 
instructer is given to the manner. The subject for 
recitation is one which neither interests the speaker 
nor the hearer, and the attention is given exclu- 
sively to the mode of delivery. Under the influ- 
ence of such exercises, while the manners and habits 
are forming and becoming fixed, the scholar must 
acquire an unnatural, inefficient style of reading and 
speaking." 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 219 

There is not one public speaker out of five hun- 
dred who does not labour under the unhappy influ- 
ence of this early artificial training. By the time 
scholars have passed through their preparatory 
schools they have acquired such an unnatural de- 
livery that the professor of rhetoric in the college 
and professional seminary can do nothing more for 
the student than correct some of his bad habits. If 
the student ever makes an impressive speaker or 
reader, he must unlearn all he ever learned of elo- 
cution while attending to his preparatory studies. 
But unfortunately, only a very few are able to 
throw off these bad habits, and the feeble, artificial, 
affected delivery which they acquired in the ele- 
mentary schools remains with the most of them for 
life. 

But it will be asked, Would you abolish all kinds 
of public speaking and reading in primary and pre- 
paratory schools ? Would you have no exercises 
in these schools, either in debate, dialogue, or de- 
clamation ? Would you have our teachers give no 
instruction whatever in elocution ? Our answer to 
these questions is, that we believe there are no 
qualifications or accomplishments more useful or 
ornamental than good reading and speaking ; and 
that they deserve attention from the scholar and the 
teacher in proportion to their high value. We think 
it the duty of every elementary teacher to use every 
means in his power to make every American youth 
who may attend his instructions a good reader and 
a good speaker. 

But we must beg leave to dissent again from the 
method and systems now made use of to accomplish 
this desirable end. We say, let there be none of 
the machinery of art about it; let nature be the 
teacher — let nature, ever ready and ever able, sug- 
gest the manner, and let not this be shaped and 
fashioned by art. If the school-boy has disagree- 



220 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

able habits or ludicrous tricks when speaking or 
reading, let them be corrected ; but, commencing 
with the boys before they have formed any decided 
manner whatever, we would respectfully recom- 
mend teachers to make use of such means as will 
now be described. 

When children repeat the alphabet, and begin to 
spell easy words, the teacher should be careful that 
they preserve the common colloquial tones of voice. 
In making their first recitations, they are apt to 
raise the voice to the highest pitch, or to sink it to 
an inaudible whisper. The conversational tone is 
seldom employed. It is while learning to spell that 
children first learn to read and speak unnaturally. 
As soon as a book is put into their hands, they think 
it necessary (from their bad practice with the teach- 
er) either to raise or sink the voice. 

It is at this stage of their studies that children 
begin to acquire the habit of articulating indistinctly; 
of precipitating syllable after syllable, and of putting 
all the letters of the word into confusion. Now 
they begin to drawl or trail the letters, to abridge 
or prolong the syllables ; and to pitch the voice on 
an unnatural key. If teachers are not attentive to 
children when they first begin to read, habits will 
be formed which will be corrected with great diffi- 
culty, or remain with the pupil through life. I 
would request those who have not observed the 
fact, to mark the unnatural manner in which almost 
all young children read. Let teachers, then, be 
careful that their pupils learn to spell and read in 
an easy, natural manner. 

Another cause of bad reading is, teachers permit 
their scholars to read what they do not understand. 
The style or the subject of the reading lessons, 
which children are made to practise on, is usually 
such that no interest is felt in what is said ; and the 
child receives little or no meaning from the words 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 221 

he is compelled to pronounce. This makes the ex- 
ercise a mere mechanical employment. The scho- 
lar obtains no information from Ihe book, and hence 
never supposes it necessary to communicate any 
thing to his hearers. 

If the pupil only pronounces the words with ease 
and rapidity, he gives the utmost satisfaction to him- 
self and his teacher ; the sentiment he never thinks 
of. The practice of pronouncing words, for months 
and years together, without affixing to them any 
meaning whatever, produces the very worst habit 
which children can possibly acquire. The words 
and the manner in which they deliver them, are all 
the children ever have attended to, and, in all pro- 
bability, all they ever will attend to. Reading in 
this manner, during their early years, contributes 
greatly towards forming that monotonous, mechani- 
cal delivery which is so prevalent both in public 
and in private. 

To prevent this exclusive attention to the words 
and manner only, the teacher should never suffer 
his scholars to read what they do not understand. 
He should convince his scholars, that the object of 
reading is to perceive the sentiment of the author, 
and to convey it clearly and forcibly to his hearers. 
He should labour to make his scholars become ab- 
sorbed with the views, feelings, and sentiments of 
the writer ; and to withdraw their attention wholly 
from themselves and their audience. If teachers do 
this, they will cure one great cause of so much dis- 
graceful, offensive reading and speaking. 

Again, school-boys select pieces for declamation 
in which they can feel no interest, and which have 
no interest or relation to the audience that is ad- 
dressed. This ruinous practice the child com- 
mences when it first goes to school, and continues 
it till the education is finished, whether at an ele- 
mentary school or at a professional college. Con- 

T 2 



222 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

tinued exercises like these will make any one in- 
sensible and unnatural in their delivery ; the effect, 
wherever the experiment has been made, has not 
been otherwise, nor can it, from the very nature of 
the exercise, be any thing else. 

Teachers, then, should not allow their scholars to 
speak any thing of which they do not form a right 
conception, and in which they do not feel a lively 
interest. The subjects for declamation in schools 
should be those in which the speaker and the audi- 
ence are deeply concerned. Such subjects and oc- 
casions can always be furnished by an ingenious 
teacher. 

The school is a little world of fears and desires, 
of passions and interests, of ambition and dominion ; 
and the teacher may take advantage of these con- 
flicting emotions, and secure the most absorbing 
interest in the debates and addresses of his pupils. 
For instance, the scholars request a holyday ; the 
teacher says that he is willing to gratify them, if 
they can convince him that it is right to do so. 
The scholars, now, are allowed to express their 
feelings, and present the claims of their petition. 

The teacher hears them with attention, and replies 
to their arguments with fairness and respect. The 
scholars become deeply engaged in showing the 
reasonableness of their request. The teacher sees 
that decorum is preserved, and that each one has a 
fair chance in advocating the general cause. After 
the debate has continued a reasonable time, the 
teacher makes the decision according to the merits 
of the case. This is one among the many occur- 
rences which daily offer themselves for giving a real 
occasion and a real interest to the debates and ad- 
dresses of schoolboys. An ingenious teacher will 
always secure similar opportunities for rhetorical 
exercises in school. 

If all teachers would do this, and see that the 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 223 

scholars preserve a natural, colloquial tone of voice 
when they read and speak, and not allow them to 
read any thing but what they understand, there 
would he much more natural speech among scho- 
lars and public speakers. And this is the system 
of rhetoric which we would recommend teachers to 
adopt. 

"And though the teacher will not attain perfec- 
tion at once, yet he may be assured that while he 
steadily adheres to this plan, he is in the right road 
to it ; instead of becoming, as in the other plan, more 
and more artificial the longer he studies. And every 
advance he makes will produce a proportionate effect; 
it will give him more and more of that hold on the 
attention, the understanding, and the feelings of 
the audience which no measured cadence and studied 
modulation can ever attain. As the perverted taste 
now is, others may be more fortunate in escaping 
censure and ensuring admiration ; but the natural 
reader or speaker will far more surpass them, in 
respect of the proper object of the orator, which is, 
to carry his jioint." 



SECTION XXIII. 

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN COMMON SCHOOLS. 

I am so well pleased with what Mr. J. Abbot has 
said, in his "Teacher," on religious instruction in 
schools, that I have thought it advisable to make 
some extracts from that valuable work. I shall also 
present some of M. Cousin's reflections on this im- 
portant subject. He says, page 259 of the American 
edition, "We have abundant proof that the well- 



224 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

being of an individual, like that of a people, is no- 
wise secured by extraordinary intellectual powers or 
very refined civilization. The true happiness of an 
individual, as of a people, is founded on strict mo- 
rality, self-government, humility, and moderation ; 
on the willing performance of all duties to God, his 
superiors, and his neighbours. 

" A religious and moral education is consequently 
the first want of a people. Without this, every other 
education is not only without real utility, but in 
some respects dangerous. If, on the contrary, reli- 
gious education has taken firm root, intellectual edu- 
cation will have complete success, and ought on no 
account to be withheld from the people, since God 
has endowed them with all the faculties for acquir- 
ing it, and since the cultivation of all the powers of 
man secures to him the means of reaching perfection, 
and, through that, supreme happiness. 

" Religious and moral instruction, far from leading 
to presumption and a disputatious spirit, on the con- 
trary, produces in man a consciousness of his weak- 
ness, and, as a consequence, humility. The object 
then should be, to give the people solid and practical 
knowledge, suited to their wants, which will natu- 
rally refine and soften their habits and manners. 

"If such be the instruction the people ought to 
receive, that of the masters of the primary schools is 
at once determined, and the principles to be followed 
in the instruction of our pupils are equally clear. 

"A more definite direction is given to religious and 
moral instruction by the belief in the revealed word 
of God in the Holy Scriptures. ,But this belief must 
not be simply historical, as amongst the learned ; nor 
amuse itself with obscure and mystical notions ; nor 
be expressed with affectation, in word, gesture, or 
deed. It ought rather so to penetrate the heart of 
man as to produce a constant endeavour to have his 
thoughts, sentiments, and actions in strictest har- 



DISTRICT SCHOOL* 225 

mony with the word of God. It is, then, on the 
living conviction of the truths and doctrines of 
Christianity, that we base the religious and moral 
character of our pupils. Without neglecting phy- 
sical science, and the knowledge applicable to the 
arts of life, we must make moral science, which is 
of far higher importance, our main object. The 
mind and the character are what a true master 
ought, above all, to fashion. We must lay the 
foundations of moral life in the souls of our young 
masters, and therefore we must place religious in- 
struction, — that is, to speak distinctly, Christian 
instruction, — in the first rank in the education of 
our normal schools. We must teach our children 
that religion which civilized our fathers; that religion 
whose liberal spirit prepared, and can alone sustain, 
all the great institutions of modern times. We must 
also permit the clergy to fulfil their first duty, — the 
superintendence of religious instruction. But in 
order to stand the test of this superintendence with 
honour, the schoolmaster must be enabled to give 
adequate religious instruction ; otherwise, parents, in 
order to be sure that their children receive a good 
religious education, will require us to appoint eccle- 
siastics as schoolmasters, which, though assuredly 
better than having irreligious schoolmasters, would 
be liable to very serious objections of various kinds. 
"The less we desire our schools to be ecclesiastical, 
the more ought they to be Christian. It necessarily 
follows, that there must be a course of special reli- 
gious instruction in our normal schools. Religion 
is, in my eyes, the best — perhaps the only — basis of 
popular education. I know something of Europe, 
and never have I seen good schools where the spirit 
of Christian charity was wanting. Primary instruc- 
tion flourishes in three countries, Holland, Scotland, 
and Germany ; in all it is profoundly religious. It 
is said to be so in America. 



226 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

"The little popular instruction I ever found in 
Italy came from the priests. In France, with few ex- 
ceptions, our best schools for the poor are those of the 
Freres de la doctrine Chretienne, (Brothers of the 
Christian doctrine.) These are facts which it is 
necessary to be incessantly repeating to certain per- 
sons. Let them go into the schools of the poor, — 
let them learn what patience, what resignation, are 
required to induce a man to persevere in so toilsome 
an employment. Have better nurses ever been 
found than those benevolent nuns who bestow on 
poverty all those attentions we pay to wealth? 
There are things in human society, sir, which can 
neither be conceived nor accomplished without vir- 
tue, — that is to say, when speaking of the mass with- 
out religion. 

"The schools for the middle classes may be an 
object of speculation ; but the country schools, the 
miserable little schools in the south, in the west, in 
Britanny, in the mountains of Auvergne, and, with- 
out going far, the lowest schools of our great cities, 
of Paris itself, will never hold out any adequate in- 
ducement to persons seeking a remunerating occu- 
pation. There will doubtless be some philosophers 
inspired with the ardent philanthropy of Saint 
Vincent de Paul, without his religious enthusiasm, 
who would devote themselves to this austere voca- 
tion ; but the question is not to have here and there 
a master. 

"We have more than forty thousand schools to 
serve, and it were wise to call religion to the aid of 
our insufficient means, were it but for the alleviation 
of the pecuniary burdens of the nation. Either 
you must lavish the treasures of the state, and the 
revenues of the communes, in order to give high 
salaries, and even pensions, to that new order of 
tradesmen called schoolmasters ; or you must not 
imagine you can do without Christian charity, and 



Dis*ritiCT school. 227 

that spirit of poverty, humility, courageous resigna- 
tion, and modest dignity, which Christianity, rightly 
understood and wisely taught, can alone give to the 
teachers of the people. 

"The more I thintk of all this, sir, the more I look 
at the schools in thif country, the more I talk with 
the directors of norfnal schools and counsellors of 
the ministry, the n^iore I am strengthened in the 
conviction that we |nust make any efforts or any 
sacrifices to come to! a good understanding with the 
clergy on the subject of popular education, and to 
constitute religion a special and very carefully-taught 
branch of instruction in our primary normal schools. 

"I am not ignorant, sir, that this advice will grate 
on the ears of many persons, and that I shall be 
thought extremely devot at Paris. Yet it is not 
from Rome, but from Berlin, that I address you. 
The man who holds this language to you is a philo- 
sopher, formerly disliked, and even persecuted, by 
the priesthood ; but this philosopher has a mind too 
little affected by the recollection of his own insults, 
and is too well acquainted with human nature and 
with history, not to regard religion as an indestruc- 
tible power : genuine Christianity, as a means of 
civilization for the people, and a necessary support 
for those on whom society imposes irksome and 
humble duties, without the slightest prospect of for- 
tune, without the least gratification of self-love." 

" No more than grapes can be gathered from thorns, 
or figs from thistles, can any thing good be hoped 
from schoolmasters who are regardless of religion 
and of morality. For this reason religious instruc- 
tion is placed at the head of all other parts of educa- 
tion : its object is to implant in the normal schools 
such a moral and religious spirit as ought to pervade 
the popular schools. The course of religious in- 
struction has undergone no change from that stated 
in the report of last year, except that the several 



228 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

classes have been united for the Biblical part. 
During the present year we propose to treat the 
concordance of the Gospels, the history of the 
Apostles, and some of the Episttes. 

" The course adopted is this :4-The series of the 
concordance is established and dfctated* by the mas- 
ter; the passages and discourses* are explained, and, 
if thought expedient, learnt by heart by the pupils. 
For the catechising, or religious- and moral instruc- 
tion, properly so called, the classes are separated. 
The great catechism of Overberg is taken as a ground 
work ; and we treat first of faith, then of morals, so 
that the latter may be intimately connected with the 
former, or to speak better, that morality may flow 
from faith as from its source. 

"I regard religion as a disposition or affection of 
the soul, which unites man, in all his actions, with 
God ; and he alone is truly religious who possesses 
this disposition and strives by every means to cherish 
it. In this view of the subject all morality is reli- 
gious, because it raises man to God, and teaches him 
to live in God. 

" I must confess, that in religious instruction I do 
not confine myself to any particular method ; I try 
by meditation to bring the thing clearly before my 
own mind, and then to expound it intelligibly, in 
fitting language, with gravity and calmness, with 
unction and earnestness, because I am convinced 
that a clear exposition obliges the pupils to meditate, 
and excites interest and animation. Christianity 
ought to be the basis of the instruction of the people; 
we must not flinch from the open profession of this 
maxim ; it is no less politic than it is honest. We 
baptize our children, and bring them up in the 
Christian faith and in the bosom of the church ; in 

* The Professors of German Universities used to pronounce 
their lectures very slowly, in order that the pupils might write 
notes. This dictation is now nearly discontinued.— ^Transl. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 



229 



after-life, age, reflection, the breath of human opini- 
ons, modify their early impressions, but it is good 
that these impressions should have been made by 
Christianity. Popular education ought therefore 
to be religious, that is to say, Christian ; for, I repeat 
it, there is no such thing as religion in general ; in 
Europe, and in our days, religion means Christianity. 
Let our popular schools then be Christian ; let them 
be so entirely and earnestly. 

"Difference of religion in Christian schools neces- 
sarily produces some differences in the religious in- 
struction. This instruction shall always be adapted 
to the spirit and the dogmas of the church to which 
the school belongs. But as, in every school of a 
Christian state, the dominant spirit, common to all 
modes of faith, ought to be piety and a profound 
reverence for God, every school may receive chil- 
dren of another communion. 

"Masters and inspectors must most carefully avoid 
every kind of constraint or annoyance to the chil- 
dren on account of their particular creed. No school 
shall be made abusively instrumental to any views 
of proselytism ; and the children of a persuasion 
different from that of the school shall not be obliged, 
against the will of their parents, or their own, to 
attend the religious instruction or exercises in it. 

"Private masters of their own creed shall be charg- 
ed with their religious instruction ; and in any place 
where it would be impossible to have as many masters 
as there are forms of belief, parents must the more 
sedulously perform those duties themselves, if they 
do not wish their children to follow the religious in- 
structions given in the school." — Cousin 9 s Report, 

Says Mr. J. Abbot, on this point, — " The teacher 
is employed for a specific purpose, and he has no 
right to wander from that purpose, except as far 
as he can go with the common consent of his em- 
plovers. 

U 



230 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

" Now the common ground, on religious subjects, 
is very broad. There are, indeed, many principles 
which are, in my view, essential parts of Christianity, 
which are subjects of active discussion among us ; 
but, setting these aside, there are other principles 
equally essential, in regard to which the whole com- 
munity are agreed ; or, if at least there is a dissent- 
ing minority, it is so small that it is hardly to be 
considered. Let us look at some of these principles. 

" 1. Our community is agreed that there is a God. 
There is probably not a school in our country where 
the parents of the scholars would not wish to have 
the teacher, in his conversation with his pupils, take 
this for granted, and allude reverently and judi- 
ciously to that great Being, with the design of lead- 
ing them to realize his existence and to feel his 
authority. 

" 2. Our community are agreed that we are re- 
sponsible to God for all our conduct. Though 
some persons absurdly pretend to believe that the 
Being who formed this world, if indeed they think 
there is any such Being, has left it and its inhabit- 
ants to themselves, not inspecting their conduct, and 
never intending to call them to an account ; these 
are too few among us to need consideration. A dif- 
ference of opinion on this subject might embarrass 
the teacher in France, and in other countries in 
Europe, but not here. 

" However negligent men may be in obeying 
God's commands, they do almost universally, in our 
country, admit in theory the authority from which 
they come; and believing this, the parent, even if he 
is aware that he himself does not obey these com- 
mands, chooses to have his children taught to respect 
them. The teacher will thus be acting with the con- 
sent of his employers in almost any part of our coun- 
try, in endeavouring to influence his pupils to per- 
form moral duties, not merely from worldly motives. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 231 

nor from mere abstract principles of right and wrong, 
but from regard to the authority of God. 

" 3. The community are agreed, too, in the belief 
of the immortality of the soul. They believe, 
almost without exception, that there is a future state 
of being, to which this is introductory and prepara- 
tory, and almost every father and mother in our 
country wish their children to keep this in mind, 
and to be influenced by it in all their conduct. 

" 4. The community are agreed that we have a 
revelation from heaven. I believe there are very 
few instances where the parents would not be glad 
to have the Bible read from time to time, its geo- 
graphical and historical meanings illustrated, and 
its moral lessons brought to bear upon the hearts 
and lives of their children. 

"Of course, if the teacher is so unwise as to make 
such a privilege, if it were allowed him, the occa- 
sion of exerting an influence upon one side or the 
other of some question which divides the community 
around him, he must expect to excite jealousy and 
distrust, and to be excluded from a privilege which 
he might otherwise have been permitted freely to 
enjoy. There may, alas ! be some cases where the 
use of the Scriptures is altogether forbidden in 
school ; but probably in almost every such case, it 
would be found that it was from fear of its perver- 
sion to sectarian or party purposes, and not to any 
unwillingness to have the Bible used in the way I 
have described. 

" 5. The community are agreed in theory that 
personal attaQhment to the Supreme Being is the 
duty of every human soul ; and every parent, with 
exceptions so few that they are not worth naming, 
wishes that his children should cherish that affec- 
tion, and yield their hearts to its influence. He is 
willing, therefore, that the teacher, of course with- 
out interfering with the regular duties for the per- 



232 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

formance of which he holds his office, should, from 
time to time, speak of this duty — of God's goodness 
to men, of his daily protection, his promised favours, 
— as to awaken, if possible, this attachment in the 
hearts of his children. 

" Of course, it is very easy for the teacher, if he is 
so disposed, to abuse this privilege also. He can, 
under pretence of awakening and cherishing the 
spirit of piety in the hearts of his pupils, present 
the subjects in such aspects and relations as to arouse 
the sectarian or denominational feelings of some of 
his employers. But I believe, if this was honestly 
and fully avoided, there are few, if any, parents in 
our country who would not be gratified to have the 
great principle of love to God manifest itself in the 
instructions of the school-room, and showing itself 
by its genuine indications in the hearts and conduct 
of their children. 

" 6. The community are agreed, not only in be- 
lieving that piety consists primarily in love to God, 
but that the life of piety is to be commenced by 
penitence for p cist sins, and forgiveness, hi some 
luay or other, through a Saviour. I am aware 
that one class of theological writers, in the heat of 
controversy, charge the other, that Jesus Christ was 
nothing more or less than a teacher of religion, and 
there are, unquestionably, individuals who take this 
view. 

" But these individuals are few. There are very 
few in our community who do not, in some sense, 
look upon Jesus Christ as our Saviour, — our Re- 
deemer ; who do not feel themselves in some way 
indebted to him, for the offer of pardon. There 
may be, here and there, a theological student, or a 
contributor to the columns of a polemical magazine, 
who ranks Jesus Christ with Moses and with Paul. 
But the great mass of the fathers and mothers of 
every name and denomination, through all the ranks 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 233 

of society, look up to the Saviour of sinners with 
something, at least, of the feeling that he is the ob- 
ject of extraordinary affection and reverence. I am 
aware, however, that I am approaching the limit, 
which, in many parts of our country, ought to bound 
the religious influence of the teacher in a public 
school ; and on this subject, as on every other, he 
ought to do nothing, directly or indirectly, which 
would be displeasing to those who have intrusted 
children to his care. 

" So much ground, it seems, the teacher may 
occupy, by common consent, in New England, and 
it certainly is a great deal. It may be doubted 
whether, after all our disputes, there is a country 
in the world whose inhabitants have so much in 
common in regard to religious belief. There is, 
perhaps, no country in the world where the teacher 
may be allowed to do so much towards leading 
his pupils to fear God, and to obey his commands, 
with the cordial consent of their parents, as he can 
here. 

" The ground which I have been laying out is 
common all over our country ; in particular places 
there will be even much more that is common ; of 
course the teacher, in such cases, will be at much 
greater liberty. If a Roman Catholic community 
establish a school, and appoint a Roman Catholic 
teacher, he may properly, in his intercourse with 
his scholars, allude, with commendation, to the 
opinions and practices of that church. If a college 
Is established by a Methodist denomination, the 
teacher of that institution may, of course, explain 
and enforce there, the views of that society. Each 
teacher is confined only to those views which is 
common to the founders and supporters of the 
particular institution to which he is attached. 

" I trust the principle which I have been attempt- 
ing to enforce is fully before the reader's mind, 
u 2 



234 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

namely, that moral and religious instruction in a 
school being in a great degree extra-official in its 
nature, must be carried no farther than the teacher 
can go with the common consent, either expressed 
or implied, of those who have founded and who 
support his school. Of course, if those founders 
forbid it altogether, they have a right to do so, and 
the teacher must submit. 

"The only question that can justly arise is, whether 
he will remain in such a situation, or seek employ- 
ment where a door of usefulness, here closed against 
him, will be opened. While he remains, he must 
fully and honestly submit to the wishes of those in 
whose hands Providence has placed the ultimate re- 
sponsibility of training up the children of his school. 
It is only for a partial and specific purpose that they 
are placed under his care. 

" The religious reader may inquire why I am so 
anxious to restrain, rather than to urge on, the exer- 
cise of religious influence in schools. < There is far 
too little,' some one will say, ' instead of too much ; 
and teachers need to be encouraged and led on in 
this duty, not to be restrained from it.' There is, 
indeed, far too little religious influence exerted in 
common schools. What I have said has been in- 
tended to prepare a way for an increase of it. My 
view of it is this : 

" If teachers do universally confine themselves to 
limits which I have been attempting to define, they 
may accomplish, within these limits, a vast amount 
of good. By attempting, however, to exceed them, 
the confidence of parents is destroyed or weakened, 
and the door closed. In this way, injury to a very 
great extent has been, in many parts of our country, 
done. Parents are led to associate with the very 
idea of religion, indirect, and perhaps secret, efforts 
to influence their children in a way which they 
themselves would disapprove. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 235 

" They transfer to the cause of piety itself, the 
dislike which was first awakened by exceptionable 
means to promote it; and other teachers, seeing 
these evil effects, are deterred from attempting what 
they might easily and pleasantly accomplish. Be- 
fore, therefore, attempting to enforce the duty, and 
explain the methods of exerting religious influence 
in school, I thought proper distinctly to state with 
what restrictions, and within what limits, the work 
is to be done. 

" There are many teachers who profess to cherish 
the spirit, and to entertain the hopes of piety, who 
yet make no effort whatever to extend its influence 
to the hearts of their pupils. Others appeal some- 
times to religious truth, merely to assist them in the 
government of the school. They perhaps bring it 
before the minds of disobedient pupils in a vain 
effort to make an impression upon the conscience 
of one who has done wrong, and who cannot by 
other means be brought to submission. But the 
pupil in such cases understands, or, at least, he be- 
lieves that the teacher applies to religious truth only 
to eke out his own authority, and, of course, it pro- 
duces no effect. 

"Another teacher thinks he must, to discharge his 
duty, give a certain amount weekly, of what he con- 
siders religious instruction. He accordingly appro- 
priates a regular portion of time to a formal lecture 
or exhortation, which he delivers without regard to 
the mental habits of thought and feeling which pre- 
vail among his charge. He forgets that the heart 
must be led, not driven to piety, and that unless his 
efforts are adapted to the nature of the minds he is 
acting upon, and suited to influence them, he must 
as certainly fail of success as when there is a want 
of adaptedness between the means and the end in 
any other undertaking whatever. " 



PART II. 



SECTION I. 



EVILS FROM IGNORANCE. 

Popular ignorance is an enormous national evil. The igno- 
rance, almost total, of seven-eighths of the British people, to say 
nothing of the deep reproach with which it covers us, is full of dan- 
ger to our social system, and even affects deeply our daily well- 
being. A great proportion of our burdens must be placed to its 
account; it peoples our prisons and our hospitals, desolates our 
land with pauperism, and taxes us for the costly machinery of police 
establishments and criminal judicature ; while it largely deducts 
from the happiness of every feeling man, to witness and live sur- 
rounded by the nameless and numberless sufferings which it entails 
upon an immense portion of our countrymen. From these suffer- 
ings they have a claim on that system called the Nation, for de- 
liverance. — Simpson. 

When we look into the history of this world, 
two things are seen upon nearly every page, — man's 
ignorance and man's wickedness. History presents 
another truth ; the most ignorant individuals and 
nations have been the most vicious and degraded. 
The present condition of the world reveals slavery 
and misery where the people are ignorant, and 
liberty and happiness where there is mental and 
moral light. When the mind is not improved by 
virtue and knowledge, it will be governed and de- 
based by the passions and appetites, and employed 
in planning and executing that which destroys hap- 
piness and prevents improvement. 

How far human suffering may be attributed to 
ignorance, or how many of the evils which have 
236 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 237 

and do exist among the inhabitants of this earth 
originated from ignorance, would be difficult to as- 
certain ; but we do see and know enough, to say, 
that the amount of suffering from ignorance is im- 
measurable, and that the evils are innumerable. 
Ignorance has not only multiplied evils, by misap- 
plying what is good, but has given an imaginary 
existence to many of the most fearful nature, and 
which have long distressed and enslaved the human 
race. 

" While ignorant of the laws of nature, man has 
connected with some of her most beautiful and 
benevolent operations, false and imaginary terrors. 
Before the sun of knowledge has poured light upon 
the mental darkness of a tribe or nation, an eclipse 
of the sun in the heavens is viewed by the terrified 
and trembling beholders with the utmost dismay 
and consternation. The ignorant have supposed 
the moon, while in an eclipse, or what is the same 
thing, while passing through the shadow of the 
earth, was sickening or dying through the influence 
of enchanters. 

" To appease the enemies of their evening luminary, 
they have practised the most torturing and irrational 
ceremonies, and submitted themselves to the most 
excruciating pain. Many tribes and nations are still 
enslaved by these foolish notions and cruel customs. 
The appearance of comets, too, are still regarded as 
forerunners of earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and 
the most dreadful calamities. They know not that 
comets are regular bodies belonging to our system, 
and appear and disappear at stated periods of time 
After a slight knowledge of the heavenly bodies, 
the appearance of a comet excites as little fear as the 
appearance of the sun. 

" Ignorance has admitted into the minds of men 
many absurd notions respecting judicial astrology, 
which have destroyed the peace and happiness of 



238 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

many tribes and nations. They have supposed that 
the characters and destinies of men are fixed, by 
the appearance of certain stars, or the meetings of 
certain planets at the time of birth. Under this 
belief, the most foolish and unfounded apprehen- 
sions, and the most delusive hopes have been enter- 
tained, either to torture or disappoint the mind. 

" A small acquaintance with the planetary bodies 
will show that such fears and hopes have the great- 
est absurdity ; for it is easily seen, that although 
these bodies may affect the earth, they can never 
affect the qualities of the mind, or the operations of 
moral causes. Notwithstanding the absurdity of 
these doctrines of astrology, the most learned nations 
of antiquity have believed them ; and by them have 
been thrown into the greatest disorder, agony, and 
despair. 

" The arbiters, or astrologers, who observed the 
planets and other natural appearances, and foretold 
the fortunes of the ignorant multitude, raised them- 
selves to great authority, and, like other impostors, 
demanded exorbitant fees for their lying services. 
These are some of the natural and regular planetary 
laws and phenomena which the ignorance of man 
has made objects of alarm, terror, and apprehension. 

" On the earth, ignorance has seen innumerable 
objects which have bewildered and distracted the 
timid and credulous. The ignes fatui are regarded 
as malicious spirits, sent to lead the traveller astray, 
and, in the end, conduct him to the place of torment. 
A little knowledge would enable any one to see, 
that these meteors are nothing more than harmless 
lights, formed by the burning of a certain gas or 
vapour which naturally rises from the moist soil 
over which they are always seen."* 

Ignorance has created distressing fears from the 

* Dick on the Improvement of Society. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 239 

ticking noise of an insect, heard during the stillness 
of night — from the scream of a bird — from the howl 
of a dog — from the fall of a chimney — from an acci- 
dental noise in an unoccupied apartment of a sus- 
pected dwelling — from an immediate return after 
something that had been forgotten — from having 
put on a garment with the inside turned out — from 
having set out on a journey, or undertaken some 
employment on Friday — from an unusual noise in a 
boiling tea-kettle. 

From a ringing in the ear (supposed to be the 
echo of a tolling bell for some deceased friend) — 
from meeting with a snake lying in the road — from 
upsetting the salt-dish — from the sudden and acci- 
dental striking of a silent clock — from breaking a 
looking-glass — from seeing the new moon over the 
left shoulder — from not having uncovered the head 
while a funeral procession passed — from missing the 
mouth while taking food — from being presented 
with a knife or any cutting instrument, and from 
its raining into the grave of a friend before it was 
closed. 

All of these whims, and thousands of others of a 
similar nature, have been regarded with apprehen- 
sions of terror, as the forerunners of impending dis- 
asters, or of approaching death ! Such is the slavery 
and misery of ignorance ; continually filling the 
ideal world with objects which vassal the mind, and 
preventing those feelings of gratitude and veneration 
which are due to the wise Creator and Governor 
of the universe. 

The ignorant and superstitious (and none are 
superstitious but the ignorant or the improperly 
educated) are constantly seeing spectres which make 
the heart faint and the joints tremble — Hobgoblins, 
with their gigantic forms and unearthly voices — 
Fairies, with their ever-changing bodiless forms, 
now a monster, and now the least of airy nothings, 



240 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

with their gigantic workings or their silent invisi- 
ble spells and magical charms — Satyrs, with their 
ghastly and satanic errands and influences. 

Imps, Wraiths, and Genii, with their powers of 
making all under their control wild and miserable — 
Witches, who inflict incurable diseases, and torment 
the souls of the departed ; with their .powers of 
transforming human beings into horses, cats, and 
mermaids ; and having thrown the bridle over them, 
cause them to traverse the air on the wings of the 
wind, over bridgeless rivers, and through the caverns 
and whirlpools of the ocean — and Wizards, who are 
supposed to turn men into fiends, and call back the 
spirits of the dead, and put mortals into the society 
of the ghostly, sepulchral world, and who magically 
deceive and destroy mortals by an inscrutable agency 
with the devil. 

All of these beings and agencies, ignorance places 
in the ideal world. It fills the air with apparitions 
and terrifying phantoms, which stalk forth in the 
silence of night to alarm the weak and timid. From 
the lonely churchyard, and the dark deep woods, 
the ignorant hear supernatural voices, and see mon- 
strous shapes. 

Such is the tyranny and misery of the ignorant ! 
Who can know the bondage and suffering which 
the illiterate feel ! and who is there that does not 
desire knowledge which at once frees him from all 
these deadly fears and galling fetters ? — for ignorance 
has given existence to every ideal being we have 
mentioned. 

Besides these ideal beings and agencies, which 
are for ever present with the ignorant to terrify and 
distress, there are also a great many foolish and erro- 
neous opinions which pass current for genuine truths 
among the uninformed part of mankind. These 
apothegms, or trite sayings, have a wonderful prac- 
tical influence ; they are at once the philosophy and 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 241 

the guide of the vulgar or the uneducated. The 
world is full of these proverhs or maxims, and it 
is to be lamented that so many of them are false, 
that the ignorant are not able to discriminate and 
judge for themselves, but are so frequently rendered 
foolish, and led astray by them. 

These are some of the whimsical and false sayings 
which all must have frequently heard. That a man 
has one rib less than a woman ; that the city of Je- 
rusalem is in the centre of the world ; that the tenth 
wave of the sea is more dangerous than any other ; 
that all animals on the land have others like them 
in the sea ; that the ocean and some lakes have no 
bottom ; that white powder kills without making a 
noise ; that all of the stars are lighted by the sun. 

That a burning candle, made of human fat, will 
prevent a sleeping man from waking ; that young 
toads are rained down ; that the weather of the last 
Friday of the month foretells the weather of the fol- 
lowing month ; that a warm winter will be followed 
by a cold summer ; that the winter is cold because the 
sun is farther from the earth ; that ignorance is bliss ; 
that little learning is a dangerous thing ; that genius 
can do nothing without leisure and teachers ; that 
men of business have no time to study ; that what 
is everybody's business is nobody's. 

That a man may know too much for his business ; 
that ignorance is an excuse for crime ; that the rich 
only are happy ; that all things are useless which 
are not practical ; that it makes no difference what 
a man believes, if he is only sincere; that the lazy 
man gets the most game; that the foolish labour, but 
the idle reap ; that there is but one penny, and the 
die get it ; that the world owes all a living ; and 
that a man may be too religious. 

To all of these, and many more, ignorance and 
credulity have given assent! How little of the 
true nature of things do the ignorant know, and 
X 



242 District school. 

how easily they may be imposed upon. Have not 
the errors which influence society been the cause 
of more evil than depravity itself? The great 
majority of the human race have been blinded by 
these notions and false maxims, and they still prevail 
in the United States to a great extent. 

When such absurdities und falsehoods are be- 
lieved, the mind is made incapable of reasoning 
correctly on any subject, &&& in a short time becomes 
degraded to the lowest degree. How painful to see 
so many rational and immortal minds unfitted for 
moral and intellectual growth and enjoyment I 
How painful to see so many who will never feel 
the dignity of their nature, or fulfil the end of their 
being ! - '* v 

Ignorance and error have always led to the com- 
mission of deeds of cruelty and rank injustice. In 
heathen countries, how many millions of lives have 
been poured out, and how much pain and agony 
from bodily torture, through ignorance of the true 
nature and worship of God ! Through ignorance, 
how cruel has been the oppression in every land 
and nation of unjust laws and tyrannical institutions! 
Through ignorance and error, how merciless and 
bloody have been the thousands of persecutions 
which have filled the earth with violence, and 
covered it with blood ! On whatever portion of 
the world or period of time we place the eye, we 
shall see that ignorance, vice, and misery have been, 
and are inseparable. 

But there are other evils arising from ignorance, 
equally distressing to the mind and destructive to 
the body, as any we have described or enumerated. 
They are those which the ignorant bring upon them- 
selves by not perceiving and conforming to the 
natural relations which exist between themselves 
and the objects around them. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 243 

Relations which must at all times be our law and 
our rule of action, if we are kept in the path of true 
happiness ; but these relations are not known and 
obeyed by the illiterate, for they are ignorant of 
themselves and the qualities of natural objects. 
They have never looked upon themselves as animal, 
intellectual, and moral beings, and learned that hap- 
piness cannot be found and possessed, except the 
intellectual and moral faculties have the supremacy 
or the control over the animal nature. 

Not having their moral and intellectual nature 
developed, or put in exercise by mental and moral 
instruction, they are ignorant of any other happiness 
but that derived from the gratification of their lowest 
natures — their animal appetites and passions. In 
this they are disappointed ; for when the animal 
nature is properly gratified, its pleasures are not 
sufficient to satisfy a being who has an intellectual 
and moral nature. This kind of gratification may 
satisfy brutes, for they do not possess consciousness 
or reflection. 

The pleasures of sense continue but a short time, 
for they soon lose their relish, — soon become blunted 
or disordered, and lose all power of pleasing. And 
the man who has lost the pleasures of their proper 
gratification, tries their improper and excessive ex- 
ercise ; and by this means destroys his body, and 
cuts himself off for ever from intellectual and moral 
enjoyment. The sensual nature is in an unhealthy 
state, and the mind in subjection to it. 

Here, evidently, is ike chief cause of human evils 
and affliction; a diseased, sensual nature, and its 
dominion over the moral and intellectual nature. 
A man m this condition (and there are multitudes 
without number in it) is full of imaginary anxieties, 
teased by ungovernable appetites and passions, which 
can never be gratified, and finding tastelessness in 



244 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

all his shifts and efforts after that which he has long 
since unfitted himself for enjoying.* 

One great office of the mind is to keep the body 
from excesses and injury, but it never performs this 
office unless it is illuminated by truth and know- 
ledge. While the mind remains ignorant, and the 
affections of the heart unlawfully placed, there is no 
government over the appetites and passions, and 
their unrestrained gratification soon brings misery 
and destruction. There is a voice coming from 
every individual in the long catalogue of the human 
family, telling us that men need knowledge to over- 
power their passions, to master their prejudices, and 
to render them ha^py. 



SECTION II. 

ADVANTAGES OP KNOWLEDGE. 

The value of knowledge, and the advantage it 
gives its possessor, may be seen in a variety of 
ways. The evils of ignorance were shown by 
directing the attention to the fears and sufferings of 
those individuals and nations upon whom the light 
of knowledge has never shone. In the same way 

* There exist no adequate meaps, either in private families 
or public institutions, witli the exception of Infant-schools, 
for educating- the feelings, improving the dispositions, restrain- 
ing the inferior propensities, and exercising the higher senti- 
ments, — in short, for moral training. In all this we took 
our chance, and picked up what we might from partial parents, 
nursery maids, and juvenile companions. The animal feelings 
being the strongest, acted in us with all the blindness and all 
the power of instincts, and laid a broad and deep foundation 
for habitual selfishness. — Simpson. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 245 

we might show the advantages of knowledge by 
referring to the means of happiness, and the enjoy- 
ments of those nations where the individuals are 
enlightened ; where the sun of knowledge has shone 
upon the whole people. 

By comparing an ignorant people with one that 
is enlightened, we shall see that knowledge prevents 
those crimes and cruelties which render a nation 
dishonoured and debased ; while on the other hand, 
it has conferred the means of improvement and 
enjoyment which has made a nation prosperous, 
honoured, and happy. If all could make such a 
comparison between a literate and illiterate people, 
as to obtain the aggregate of the pains and pleasures 
which each suffers and enjoys, we would want no 
other proof of the advantages of knowledge, than the 
one this comparison would present. 

But there are few, if any, who do this. The 
greatest number of any people are but imperfectly 
acquainted with their own condition ; they know not 
the distinguishing privileges which they may pos- 
sess ; nor the wretchedness of their condition when 
compared with the more favoured. And when men 
are conscious of possessing comforts which they see 
are denied to others, they seldom think of that which 
makes the difference. 

They are contented with their enjoyments, and 
appear insensible to that which produced them. 
The ignorant and the wretched know not the con- 
veniences which the enlightened possess, nor the 
enjoyment of the exercise of their moral and intel- 
lectual nature, and are therefore contented with their 
wretched existence. Thus, since the exalted are 
indifferent to that which gave them their distinction, 
and the debased to that which might improve their 
condition, it will be well to consider some of the 
advantages of knowledge which have blessed the 
one, and which may assist the other. 
x 2 



£46 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

Knowledge, by showing the true principles and 
nature of things, will prevent those evils which 
originate in ignorance. The phenomena of nature, 
which were once beheld with alarm, will be con- 
Verted by the enlightened into sources of enjoyment, 
and be contemplated with emotions of delight. 
They will watch the appearance of these phenomena 
with joy and eagerness, that they may form more 
enlarged and correct ideas of their Great Creator. 
The enlightened will be less deceived by the false 
maxims and philosophy in the world. 

They will throw off the oppression of their fellow- 
men, and claim their freedom and their rights. 
That which their Creator intended for a good and a 
blessing, they may no longer abuse by ignorant per- 
versions. They will see the relations which they 
have to their fellow-men, to society, and to the con- 
stitution of the world ; and having seen these natural 
laws which the Creator has given for their rule of 
life, they will be more disposed to obey them, and 
thus receive the reward of obedience. The enlight- 
ened may greatly increase their own happiness and 
the happiness of mankind, by contributing to the 
advancement of the useful arts and sciences. 

All science is founded upon facts ; these facts are 
obtained by observing Nature ; and who is there that 
has a better opportunity for making such observa- 
tions than the intelligent farmer. Nature is his 
companion ; her wonderful productions and changes 
are constantly before him. Nature and he are co- 
workers, toiling hand in hand to supply the world's 
returning wants. 

He sees Nature in her most secret workings, acts 
with her in her silent operations, and wherever he may 
be, he may learn a lesson from her instructions which 
will enable him to inform the wise, and make him 
a teacher from the great school of the Creator. He 
may be daily collecting facts which will establish or 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 247 

destroy some doubtful principle, or be the means of 
creating a new science to benefit the world as long 
as time shall last. 

The intelligent practical man is able to make a 
fair trial of the projected improvements of the 
theorist, and thus secure a good or prevent an im- 
position. The labouring man has taught the world 
many of its most useful lessons ; and a great part of 
that knowledge which is now multiplying the neces- 
saries, and increasing the pleasures of life, has been 
furnished by the observing farmer or the skilful 
mechanic. If all men were intelligent enough to 
think when they observe, and active enough to 
observe when they think, how much that is useful, 
but unknown, would soon be discovered ! 

Knowledge will make mechanics more skilful 
in the arts ; for every art is founded on scientific 
principles, and he who has a knowledge of the prin- 
ciples of a science, must be more skilful in the prac- 
tice of the arts, and will be prepared to carry them 
to the highest point of improvement. It should be 
the desire of every one to furnish the head with 
such knowledge that it will be able to assist the 
hands. 

A mechanic, by exercising his ingenuity and the 
powers of a cultivated mind, might save himself 
much of that labour which he will otherwise be 
obliged to go through. Every mechanic may lessen 
and lighten his daily task, if he will but inform his 
mind in the nature and principles of his art, as well 
as practise his limbs in the mechanical exercise of 
the trade. Knowledge would not only render me- 
chanics more skilful, but would enable them to pro- 
duce articles of greater perfection. 

That which is done by a mere habit of muscular 
movement, cannot have that perfection and finish 
which the mind in co-operation could have given it. 
There is no part of mechanism whatever, that can 



248 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

be well understood, or profitably employed, with- 
out more or less knowledge of the principles of its 
action. We every day see intelligent mechanics 
who make better articles and obtain a higher price 
for them than the more ignorant of the same trade 
are able to do. When intelligence comes in to aid 
mechanical skill, it will always obtain the advantage. 

An ignorant artist is not able to judge of the good 
or bad qualities of the materials which he must use 
in the manufacture of his articles. He is liable to 
be deceived in these, and thus loses all his labour. 
Good and bad materials are always in market, and 
he who has knowledge sufficient to discriminate, and 
form a right estimation of the comparative values of 
each, will secure many good bargains, and escape 
many impositions. 

We see, also, the decided advantage which the 
intelligent agriculturist has over his less informed 
neighbours. The ignorant do as their fathers have 
done, and know not that there are improvements in 
the implements of husbandry. They know not that 
the cultivation of the soil can be far better under- 
stood by a little inquiry into its nature, and by a 
knowledge of that which is adapted to invigorate it. 

A profitable culture of the soil requires no incon- 
siderable knowledge of the best manner of preparing 
it for the several grains or grasses. To know what 
soil is best adapted to a particular grain — to choose 
the best time for sowing and reaping — to judge of 
the qualities of grains — and to perceive when the 
soil should rest, and when it should be active, require 
long study and a well cultivated mind. 

A good education is necessary, that you may be 
profited by public instructions. In the earlier 
part of life — during that time which is spent in 
school — you should obtain the means of acquiring 
knowledge. After you have gone from the school- 
room and the instructer, you should be prepared to 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 249 

receive that more general and higher instruction 
which the public affords ; such as is offered by public 
lectures on the sciences, intended to show the con- 
nexion between science, and the practical purposes 
of life ; the public instructions on the Sabbath ; and 
the information that may be had by attending the 
several courts of justice, which may sit from time 
to time where you dwell or in the neighbouring 
vicinity. 

It will also require a disciplined, improved mind, 
to profit by the intelligent conversation of those who 
have had higher advantages of education. Every 
individual may find much improvement in either or 
all of these kinds of public instruction, if he has a 
mind so far improved as to desire and love know- 
ledge. 

It is too frequently seen that young men prefer 
places of noisy merriment, or vicious resort, to 
places of moral and mental improvement. One 
great cause of this unhappy preference is their de- 
fective early education. They have not intelligence 
sufficient to enable them to take an interest in lite- 
rary subjects, or public questions, and they feel dis- 
inclined to attend the discussions. 

Therefore they are excluded from the society of 
the virtuous and better informed, and are ready to 
be enticed into scenes of dishonour or injustice, and 
finally to become outcasts of society. Young men 
should have obtained that education which will 
exempt them from these alluring temptations, and 
that will give them a desire to seize every oppor- 
tunity for improving their minds with useful know- 
ledge. 

The preacher from the pulpit addresses hundreds 
of his congregation, who, through ignorance, "have 
ears and hear not ;" and he puts the book of life 
into their hands, but they are ignorant, and "have 
eyes and see not." Their education has been 



250 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

neglected, or they have voluntarily deprived them- 
selves of it, and their feeble minds and limited at- 
tainments prevent them from receiving those in- 
structions which would have strengthened their 
virtues, and have shown them the folly of their evil 
ways. 

An intelligent public is a constant teacher, and 
the instructions are of the most practical nature ; and 
all have the opportunity, more or less, of receiving 
its lessons. Yet, but very few have that active 
state of mind, and those elementary and necessary 
attainments, which would patronise and encourage 
such instruction, and make them interesting and 
profitable. 

We know that there is a want of confidence in 
public lecturers ; too many of these teachers have 
promised what they were unable to perform ; yet, 
it will not be denied but that there are many, who, 
if they were listened to by intelligent minds, would 
communicate much which would be both pleasing 
and useful. The reason that the public is so fre- 
quently deceived with mere pretenders, is its ina- 
bility to appreciate, and unwillingness to reward 
those who are better. 

That the public may desire and invite sound, 
valuable knowledge, the people must receive that 
kind and amount of preparatory instruction which 
will make them eager for higher attainments, and 
capable of making use of their knowledge, either as 
means of intellectual growth, or of amusement, or 
of assistance in the practical purposes of life. The 
ignorant know not their daily loss from being dis- 
qualified to encourage and understand these public 
instructions. 

In the present age, knowledge is separated from 
the technicalities and precluding forms which for- 
merly placed it beyond the common walks of life, 
and is simplified and diffused through the whole 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 251 

community. If a man will obtain a good element- 
ary education, he can, under the present improve- 
ments, have access to all the higher branches of 
literature and science. 

If he will but lay a good foundation in those pri- 
mary schools which are open to all, he may raise a 
noble, beautiful superstructure, and this with but 
very little assistance from others. Knowledge is 
brought to the door of every individual, and the 
only requirements that are made for his receiving it, 
almost gratis, are such culture and discipline of mind 
as will fit him for the instruction. 

We believe, then, that every youth will see that 
a good education, or a certain degree of elementary 
knowledge, is necessary to prepare him for being 
benefited by the valuable instructions of the public. 
And by looking at the honours and rewards of those 
who have improved these public privileges, they 
will see the advantages of knowledge. 

Knowledge, again, would qualify men for judg- 
ing correctli/ of human character and human 
enjoyment. There are many false characters, and 
false appearances of happiness, which will deceive 
the illiterate, but will be detected by the intelligent. 
The ignorant are very frequently deceived and made 
wretched, by putting their trust in those who have 
the deceptive power of appearing what they are not. 

They are necessarily more dependent upon others, 
but unfortunately less capable of discriminating be- 
tween honesty and villany — a protecting friend and 
a betraying enemy. When men are brought to- 
gether, the intelligent will govern, they will have a 
controlling influence in society ; but as all of the 
intelligent are not virtuous and honest, it frequently 
requires a considerable degree of knowledge on the 
part of others to expose their sophistry and their 
abuse of power. 

The uneducated, or, what is almost the same thing, 



252 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

the poorly educated, are very liable not only to form 
wrong estimates of individual worth, but to consider 
certain possessions and distinctions among men to 
be the true means of happiness. For these, in their 
ignorance, they put forth every effort, and make 
every sacrifice ; depriving themselves of the com- 
forts of the situation they have, that they may reach 
that which will be unsatisfying when possessed. 

A little knowledge would have convinced them 
that happiness arises from no condition, but is always 
found with the virtuous, industrious, and contented. 
A little reflection or philosophy would tell them 
that the rich and the gay are not necessarily happy, 
and that he only can be happy who has a well culti- 
vated mind, and a well ordered life. 

The advantages of knowledge are seen, likewise, 
when we are capable of making a distinction between 
books and periodicals which are valuable, and those 
that are pernicious. Ever since the invention of 
signs of thought, men in all countries have written 
for their contemporaries, and for posterity. Many 
of these writings or books are good, and many of 
them are bad. Some contain noble, purifying sen- 
timents; but others that which is false and corrupting. 

The latter are addressed to the depraved taste of 
readers, and have ready and extensive circulation. 
These deceive, unless there is intelligence to detect 
their speciousness. They will certainly be read, 
unless the mind has been educated in such a manner 
that it can see their seductive, polluting tendency. 
To make a right discrimination among the multitude 
of books which are brought into the market, requires 
a sound education and considerable knowledge. 

The ignorant are often deceived, and seriously in- 
jured, by not perceiving the tendency of works which 
they may purchase or be requested to read ; and the 
advantages of knowledge are great when we are se- 
lecting books for our own reading, or for that of our 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 253 

friends. An uncultivated mind, too, will always 
prefer something that is frivolous and unworthy of 
its attention ; but the mind that has rightly com- 
menced its search after truth and knowledge, will 
reject that which is low and trifling, and secure that 
which is worthy of its high powers and immortal 
existence. 

The privilege which an educated reading man 
has of knowing what is transacting in the world, 
is of great importance to himself and to others. 
The illiterate know but little beyond the boundaries 
of their daily labours ; their minds are cramped 
within the narrow circle which they are obliged to 
keep, and they are wholly excluded from a partici- 
pation in those great subjects which are interesting 
a part of their fellow-beings. 

The papers, which contain a day's or a week's 
history of the living, acting world, have no interest 
to them ; but to a man, whose mind has been en- 
larged by knowledge, and made acquainted with 
the condition of his country, and the great changes 
that are constantly taking place in it, the news of 
the daily or weekly press is hailed with interest and 
with delight. 

There is a criminal apathy or an erroneous im- 
pression in the ignorant, in relation to public affairs, 
which is disgraceful to themselves and injurious to 
their country. A friend to his country will make 
himself one of its intelligent members, and correctly 
inform himself of all its important interests and 
movements. 

This information will make him a desirable and 
profitable companion, and all will see that his intel- 
ligence gives him many advantages, and a much 
greater influence than he otherwise would have. 
Let every young man, then, who wishes to be ac- 
ceptable to his friends and useful to his country, 
obtain some information of what is going on in the 



254 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

world ; and let him so educate his mind, that he will 
be able to use or communicate this information with 
credit to himself and benefit to others. 

Knowledge would cause all, after an honest exa- 
mination, to see the evidence of revealed religion, 
mid its harmony with natural revelation. An 
unlimited credulity or a dangerous skepticism is the 
certain companion of ignorance. An intelligent, 
honest mind rejects that which is not biblical, and 
believes and obeys that which is. The man who 
has been educated to think for himself, can discern 
an internal evidence in every part of the Christian 
revelation ; an evidence that is clear, full, and satis- 
factory. 

And he who is intelligent may look into the evi- 
dence from testimony, and see one strong, unbroken 
chain of testimonial proof, running back from the 
present moment to the very time when the prophets 
and apostles proclaimed their inspired message to a 
guilty world. And he who can look into the pro- 
vidence or works of the Creator, will find the same 
revelation of the Eternal One and his will concerning 
man that is made known in the Scriptures. 

Indeed, the Bible is the mouth of Nature ; if we 
will listen to its voice, all the truths in creation's 
volume are heard and known. The same infinite 
love for his creatures in the one that we see in the 
other ; the same moral government in constant ex- 
ercise over men, that is made known in the Scrip- 
tures ; the same reward of virtue and punishment 
of vice here taking place on the earth (though not 
in so perfect a manner now) that will be distributed 
in the world hereafter. 

Whoever will look, may see the same govern- 
ment commenced on earth that is made known in 
the Bible, and that is to continue through eternity. 
The individual who has intelligence sufficient to 
examine the influence, the testimonial proof, and the 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 255 

corroborative evidence in the ways and works of 
God, will find that there is no truth on earth so well 
established as the truth of the Bible. And who 
does not desire knowledge, when it can give us 
satisfaction on this great subject? 

The ignorant cannot examine for themselves ; they 
must believe, because others say there is evidence ; 
but they know that man does not always tell the 
truth, and that he may, from some personal interest, 
wish to deceive his fellow-men : this want of confi- 
dence in man makes what he says doubtful ; and 
there is always with those who cannot examine for 
themselves, an uncertainty and a distressing anxiety 
respecting the truth of the Bible. The advantages 
of knowledge are unspeakable, if it should do no- 
thing more than settle this momentous question. 
Let every one, then, respect his powers, and know 
for himself. 

Knowledge assists us informing more enlarged 
and correct conceptions of the Deity. He is known 
through his attributes, and unless the mind has been 
enlarged and accustomed to form an adequate idea 
of these, his nature will not be perceived. It is dif- 
ficult for the mind that has always seen body and 
spirit united, to divest the Deity of matter, and view 
him as a Spirit all powerful, all knowing, and always, 
present. It requires deep abstraction and a steady 
vision. 

The ignorant must necessarily form very erro- 
neous ideas of the nature and existence of their 
Creator. He reveals himself by the greatness of 
nis doings and the immensity of his works; and 
except the mind in some measure can understand 
these, it will know but little of its Maker and its 
Judge. How necessary is knowledge, that we may 
know the nature and the government of Him "with 
whom we have to do." 

Knowledge is necessary, likewise, that ive may 



256 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

know in what true happiness consists. The Cre- 
ator has annexed pleasure to some actions and pain 
to others ; he has made the desire and possession 
of some things to be the means of happiness, and 
the desire and possession of other things, the means 
of unhappiness; and we have the capacity of know- 
ing beforehand what actions and objects will make 
us happy, and likewise what will make us unhappy. 
But this knowledge will not be forced upon us ; 
we have only the ability to know ; the knowledge 
which will ensure a right conduct, and consequently 
a happy life, may be had if we choose to possess it. 
We are formed for observing objects, for comparing 
them together, for laying down principles, and for 
inferring consequences. And man was made to be 
happy; and this earth and all things in it and upon 
it were made for his happiness. All that is neces- 
sary is, that man improve his faculties, and know 
what is good and what is evil, and then desire the 
former and refuse the latter.* 

* Those who are what is called religiously educated, are 
not more fortunate ; because no sect in religion has yet ad- 
dressed itself to the duty of teaching the nature of man, the 
value of pursuits in life, the institutions of society, and the 
relation of all these to the religious and moral faculties of 
man ; without understanding these, no person entering upon 
active life can see his way clearly, or entertain consistent or 
elevated views of duty, and the true sources of happiness.— 
Simpson, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 257 



SECTION III. 

THE NECESSITY OF GENERAL INTELLIGENCE IN A 
FREE GOVERNMENT. 

Here, the press is hotter, the strife keener, the invention more 
alive, the curiosity more awake, the wants and wishes more stimu- 
lated by an atmosphere of luxury, than perhaps in any country 
since the world began. The men who, in their several classes, 
were content to tread step for step in the paths wherein their fa- 
thers trod, are gone. Society is no longer a calm current, but a 
tossing sea. 

Reverence for tradition, for authority, is gone. In such a state 
of things, who can deny the absolute necessity for national educa- 
tion ] — Preface to Cousin's Report. 

When the people govern, they should be virtuous 
and intelligent. They should be not only willing 
to obey the laws, but competent to make them. The 
very foundation of a republican government is based 
on good morals, and a general diffusion of knowledge 
among the whole people. Knowledge is not only 
essential to the prosperity of a free government, but 
absolutely necessary to its existence; it is at once 
the vital principle and the sustaining power. 

The experience of the past has told us, that wher- 
ever there has been mental and moral light, there 
has been liberty; and wherever the people were ig- 
norant, there was slavery. Since this is so, igno- 
rance, which might be a misfortune in another coun- 
try, is a crime in this ; especially, since the means of 
knowledge are within the reach of every individual. 
In this republic, the intelligence of each individual 
is the depository and defence of his liberty. 

The free institutions of the United States are not 
secured by armies, revenues, or constitutions ; but 
by universal education. The education of the people 
y2 



258 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

stands in the place of armies, bulwarks, and a throne. 
Knowledge and virtue are not only power and hap- 
piness, but they are "Liberty" 

In the first place, knowledge is necessary to per* 
ceive the nature and value of literary and civil 
institutions. The half-educated may know enough 
to desire these, but not enough to respect and sus- 
tain them. The illiterate cannot see the nature and 
object of literary institutions, which are to liberate 
the mind, and raise the intellectual and moral con- 
dition of a nation — to increase the necessaries, and 
furnish the elegancies of life ; and to let man feel 
and know the greatness of his nature. 

This can be known by those only, who have felt 
the power, and tasted the pleasures of knowledge ; 
and such institutions can be established and sustained 
by those onty who can estimate their exalting influ- 
ence. The nature and value of civil institutions, the 
educated will much better understand and honour. 

A high degree of knowledge is requisite to see 
the nature and necessity of civil government. Man's 
weakness makes society desirable, and his wicked- 
ness makes government necessary. This govern- 
ment he supports to protect his life, his property, 
and his natural rights. The great object of govern- 
ment is to preserve order and distribute justice. 
The intelligent can estimate the value of such a 
public check and judge ; for they can see the conse- 
quences of the selfishness and maliciousness of men. 

Men, living in a civil government, have natural 
and civil rights ; and knowledge becomes necessary 
that they may know when justice is administered. 

And, in the first place, men should know what 
their rights are ; how many of them they have sur- 
rendered up to the general government, that they 
may enjoy its protection and the advantages of so- 
ciety; and what rights they have retained, and of 
which nothing should deprive them. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 259 

Having learned their rights, they should know 
whether or not they were respected by their rulers. 
When there is fraud and injustice on the part of 
those who govern, the governed should be intelli- 
gent enough to know it, and able to defend them- 
selves. The natural love of power, and the extreme 
selfishness of man, should excite him for preparation 
to judge of those who are in office, and have the op- 
portunity of gratifying these oppressive principles. 

Respect and obedience are due to those in office, for 
they are the guardians and ministers of that govern- 
ment which has been established for the promotion 
of human happiness. But corrupt rulers may forfeit 
their claims by personal wickedness and public in- 
justice ; and if this shoujd take place, the public 
should be able to perceive it, and stop the abuses 
before their liberties are in danger. 

On the other hand, the half-educated know not 
when their government is well administered. They 
are discontented and clamorous when they have 
their rights, and all the blessings of a well-ordered 
administration. They know not the value of the 
privileges they enjoy, and are always ready for a 
change in their rulers. They see not the excel- 
lences of their civil institutions, and do not feel 
respect enough for them to preserve them. 

In a government where the people not only make 
the laws, but select those who are to administer them, 
there is the most imperious necessity for high intel- 
ligence and moral worth in every individual. The 
people should well understand their government, 
and be qualified to know that it is ably and justly 
administered ; or whether it is not made the instru- 
ment of gratifying the ambition of the few, and of 
destroying the rights and of oppressing the many. 

The people should be educated to know whether 
or not they are restrained by any law which does 
not conduce to the greatest private and general good. 



260 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

The people may see evils, but they ought to be able 
to take that general view of the whole which would 
show them advantages (if there were such) which 
more than overbalance these evils. 

In this government, justice is very often admi- 
nistered by a jury : and as this jury is taken from 
among the people, all should prepare themselves for 
being called upon to apply the law, and judge of the 
rights of their fellow-men. In the inferior courts 
of justice, the people are the judicial as well as the 
legislative part of the government. These important 
offices demand intelligence in every citizen. When 
those who are to be chosen for jurors are known to 
be ignorant or corrupt, dishonest individuals will 
claim the rights of others, and hope, through the 
known imperfection of the jury, to obtain those un- 
just demands which they are certain that right and 
the law would deny them. 

Thus, the ignorance of men may be the loss of 
their rights, when they themselves are to be judges. 
It is desirable, too, that there should be general in- 
telligence to ensure uniformity in jury decisions : 
for nothing excites a spirit of litigation more than 
uncertainty. When men differ, they should see the 
certainty of the decisions of the law. Again, the 
laws were made to keep men honest. If they are 
disposed not to be so, the law may compel them. 

It hence becomes necessary to know when we 
should ask assistance from the laws, or, in other 
words, when litigation is necessary and justifiable. 
To judge correctly in this, we must know what our 
rights are, and how far the law may assist us in se- 
curing them ; and this presupposes general informa- 
tion, obtained only by much study and reading; 
but which all may get if they will avail themselves 
of all the means of knowledge which may be ob- 
tained 

Knowledge is necessary, to see the effect of crime, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 261 

and the justice of punishment. The natural and 
certain effect of crime, if it is not prevented, is to 
subvert human government, and to destroy the peace 
and happiness of society. Men live together, be- 
cause society increases their comforts, but the effect 
of crimes would soon prevent all these advantages, 
and make a solitary life preferable to a social one. 

The full extent of the injury of crimes is seldom 
seen, especially by the illiterate and unthinking 
class. The particular injury may be seen or felt ; 
but the general injury, the effect particular crimes 
have upon the whole community, is not so readily 
seen. The general effect, however, often becomes 
the greatest injury, and men should be able to trace 
the destructive influence of crime through all its 
relations. 

The mischiefs of perjury in all their bearings are 
seen but by few. Men are obliged to put trust in 
each other's testimony ; all judicial redresses pro- 
ceed on the belief that men will tell the truth. Con- 
sequently, a man that speaks falsely may deprive 
an honest man of his property, his reputation, and 
his life. 

A false witness may do this great wickedness 
and not be discovered ; thus it is evident that perjury 
would cause the greatest injustice and cruelty in 
adjusting the affairs of men, or bring such distrust 
in what men said, that we should be unable to know 
the truth of any thing we did not see. When we 
reflect on all of these mischiefs, we shall see some- 
thing of the extent of the injury which is produced 
by one of the crimes that men have to meet with in 
society. 

Let the crime of taking what does not belong to 
us be considered a moment. The effect of this is, 
to take away all security of property. If this was 
done, men would secure nothing more than the pre- 
sent enjoyment. The future would be unprovided 



262 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

for ; provision for private and public conveniences 
would not be made ; nor would there be any thing 
laid by for the wants of sickness and decrepit age ; 
for there would be no certainty that we should re- 
tain it. 

Thus the effect of stealing would be to turn a 
civilized state into a savage life. The whole effect 
of these two crimes we have mentioned, and the 
effect of all the crimes which are committed, should 
be seen by every citizen who values the blessings 
of society. Men are often treated with respect who 
are known to be guilty of injustice ; but if men 
would see the bad influence of the example of such, 
and all the evils of their crimes, they would not be 
so civil to the enemy of their peace and prosperity. 

When the nature of crime is understood, the ne- 
cessity and justice of adequate punishment will be 
acknowledged. The end of punishment should be 
the reformation of the offender ; and by his example 
to deter others from doing evil. The security of 
life, and the enjoyment of every blessing it contains, 
are protected chiefly by the fear of punishment. 
The intelligent know this, and will be just to them- 
selves and to others, but the ignorant are apt to sink 
the crime (not seeing its destructive nature, and the 
extent of its effect) in commiserating the criminal, — 
to think the punishment too severe for the indivi- 
dual offence. 

Knowledge is essential to see the agreement be- 
tween civil and revealed law. Every man in so- 
ciety is under laws which command his obedience. 
As a rational creature, he should know whether or 
not these laws are just and right. The object of 
civil law is to prevent what is wrong, and to com- 
mand what is right; and if a man has intelligence 
enough to know what is right and what is wrong, 
from the nature of his being, and the relations which 
he has to society and to government, he will know 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 263 

whether the laws are perfect or defective, just or 
unjust. 

The Creator has given man such a nature, and 
placed him in such relations to the beings and ob- 
jects on the earth, that certain actions promote his 
happiness, and certain others his unhappiness. Hu- 
man law, then, should command such actions, and 
no others, as promote human happiness ; that is, 
human laws should be based on divine laws. 

Knowledge is necessary, likewise, to see the 
necessity of obeying the laws. Obedience to the 
laws of our country (if they are just, and wise, and 
well administered, and all should know whether 
they are or not) is an obligation which every one is 
under. All claim the protection of these laws, and 
all should obey and honour them. 

They were made for the peace and happiness of 
society and the prosperity of the people, and he who 
violates them must be an enemy to the welfare of 
his fellow-men. The fact that men do not always 
obey the laws, produces much anxiety, and distress, 
and unnecessary labour. This want of obedience 
occasions a great share of the disgrace and suffer- 
ing which men endure. All should see that, in the 
end, a full obedience to the laws and rulers of the 
land would bring the greatest amount of happiness. 

We should also reguLate our wants and claims to 
the wants and claims of others. This the ignorant 
will not do, for they know not what are their lawful 
wants and just claims. The avaricious man disre- 
gards the rights of others, and does not regulate his 
desires of getting to his present, and w 7 hat he has 
reason to believe will be his future wants. By this 
means he makes himself unhappy, and his fellow- 
beings miserable. We should know that all are by 
nature equal ; that is, that all who are honest and 
industrious have equal claims to all the blessings 
which are offered in their condition and circum- 



264 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

stances. And knowing what is right, it should be 
our desire and effort to do it. 

Knowledge is necessary to see the wants of so- 
ciety for jjrofessional men, such as ministers, law- 
yers, and physicians. The ignorant are prone to 
imagine that these men live at their leisure, and on 
the produce of the labouring classes. They suppose 
them drones in society, who consume the best of 
the good things of life without producing any thing \ 
and that mankind would be much better off if the 
professional classes were unknown. 

The illiterate see not that men are ignorant and 
wicked, and that they need some one to make them 
wiser and better ; that the flesh is heir to ills which 
require the most skilful treatment ; and that the ad- 
vantages which men try to take of each other require 
laws, and men to explain and apply them. They 
see not that their souls, health, and reputation are 
worth more than silver or gold. It is true that 
some professional men are indolent and dishonesty 
so, likewise, are some from the labouring classes. 

The fact that there are such men, makes a greater 
necessity for general intelligence, that no one may 
be imposed upon. If there are men who are dis- 
posed to make a bad use of their superior privileges 
and education, others should know enough to pre- 
vent them. The intelligent will perceive that the 
peace and happiness of society require skilful physi- 
cians, honest lawyers, and faithful divines ; and, see- 
ing this, they will feel disposed to give such that 
reward and respect which their merit claims. 

At the present day, how great is the demand for 
knowledge, that men may not be deceived by the 
errors of the press. The papers and periodicals 
which flood the land in almost every form, are fre- 
quently striving to make the "worse appear the 
better reason," and the rogue the better man. Their 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 265 

intention, very often, is to deceive, and cause the 
people to believe a lie. 

how much discrimination, how much genera! 
information, and how much strength of mind does 
it require, to sift out the little truth that is infused 
into so much falsehood ! Who can know what to 
believe unless he possesses a cultivated mind to per- 
ceive internal evidence, or the natural probabilities 
of the thing represented. The parties make their 
leader, their favourite, a perfect man ; and the leader 
of an opposing party one that wants every thing 
that an honest man should have, and possessing all 
those qualities of which an honest man should not 
have one. 

The constituents cannot be personally acquainted 
with the candidates, and of course must obtain their 
knowledge of them through the press. But there 
is, in almost every case, too fair a representation by 
friends, and far too foul a one by enemies ; and how 
shall the people be preserved from deception ? In 
no other way but by becoming intelligent, and by 
judging for themselves ; by knowing something of 
the history of the candidate ; by comparing, from 
time to time, the statements that are made of him, 
both by his friends and enemies; and by searching 
into the motives of men when they speak and 
act. 

An intelligent man will seldom be deceived. 
But the ignorant, who are obliged to think as others 
have thought for them, will always be liable to error 
and imposition. Where there is a free press, the 
people must be intelligent, or it will give power to 
the few, to take away the liberties of the many. 
In many parts of the country, the press is the sole 
agent in the formation and publication of opinion ; 
and so long as there is corruption in it, there is fear 
that it will be a strong engine of evil. This will 
certainly be its influence, unless the people are in- 

Lt 



266 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

telligent enough to detect its errors, and virtuous 
enough to be untouched by its corruption. 

" It would be easy to show," says Dr. Caldwell, 
" that under the government of the United States, 
a very limited amount of school-learning, diffused 
among the people, is calculated, politically speaking, 
to injure, rather than to benefit them. I allude to 
that degree of attainment, which qualifies them merely 
to read newspapers, and to understand the meaning 
of what they contain, without enabling them to judge 
of its soundness. 

" A people only thus far instructed, are in the 
fittest of all conditions to be imposed on and misled 
by artful demagogues and dishonest presses. When 
party spirit runs high, and the political passions be- 
come inflamed, they are induced, by intriguing men, 
to read papers only on one side of the question. The 
consequence is plain. 

"Not being able to judge of the truth of the matter 
laid before them, as respects either the fitness of 
men, or the tendencies of measures, they are liable 
to be seduced into the most ruinous courses. Were 
they unable to read at all, or did they never see a 
newspaper, their condition would be less dangerous. 

" Demagogues would have less power to delude 
and injure them. In the present state of our coun- 
try, it is emphatically true, as relates to the great 
body of the people, that, ' a little learning is a dan- 
gerous thing.' The only remedy for the evil con- 
sists in the reformation of the public presses, or, 
the diffusion of more learning, knowledge, and 
virtue among the people. 

" The former, it is to be apprehended, is not soon 
to be looked for. On the latter alone, therefore, 
rest the fate of our government and the hope of our 
country. Let the community at large be taught to 
think correctly and feel soundly, and they will not 
only have a secure protection against the falsehood 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 267 

and corruption of the presses ; those sources of mis- 
chief will cease to be encouraged. 

" They must then choose between reformation 
and extinction. At the present moment, some of 
our public presses are the arch-engines of evil to our 
country, and a disgrace to the human character."* 
I consider entire ignorance as more dangerous than 
partial knowledge. 

And lastly, men should know who are the con- 
scientious and enlightened friends and supporters 
of our free institutions. It is obvious to all, that 
many are seeking places of power, not for the peo- 
ple's good, but for their own. It is likewise as true, 
that many have the appearance of honesty and pa- 
triotism who possess neither of these necessary 
qualities in a public candidate. 

How then shall the people judge who are worthy 
of their support and their country's honours ? How 
shall they be able to discriminate between the man 
of worth and capability, and the man who is a zeal- 
ous pretender, but who will, either by his wicked- 
ness or weakness, betray his constituents? How 
shall the people know who are the guardians of the 
laws and constitution, and the faithful advocates of 
their rights? How shall the people know who to 
intrust with their property and their liberties ? To 
all these questions we answer, " by being intelli- 
gent." 

* A Discourse on the Advantages of a National University, 
especially in its Influence on the Union of the United States; 
delivered September 25, 1832. By Charles Caldwell, M. D. 



268 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

SECTION IV. 

DUTIES WHICH WE OWE TO EACH OTHER. 

" Man loves to commune with his fellow men ; 
and he is led by an instinctive natural desire to 
associate with his species. Society, with him, is 
to be the source of all the love which he feels, of all 
the love which he excites, and therefore, of almost 
all the desires and enjoyments which he is capable 
of feeling. The boy hastens to meet his playmates, 
and man to communicate his thoughts to man, 
4 Were I in a desert/ says an eloquent author, i I 
would find out where within it to call forth my 
affections. 

" * If I could do no better, I would fasten them 
on some sweet myrtle, or seek some melancholy 
cypress to connect myself to ; I would court their 
shade, and greet them kindly for their protection. 
I would cut my name upon them, and say they 
were the loveliest trees throughout the desert. If 
their leaves withered, I would teach myself to 
mourn ; and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice 
along with them/ The heart cannot live alone ; to 
love and be beloved is the first natural desire of all. 

"To society, man owes the strength, the perfection, 
and the happiness of his nature. In society are de- 
veloped all those noble faculties which place man 
at the head of creation ; which makes him at once 
the head, the heart, and the tongue of all. Says 
Seneca, the great Roman moralist: ' Make us single 
and solitary, and what are we ? The prey of other 
animals, and their victim — the prey which would 
be most easy for them to seize, the victim which 
would be most easy for them to destroy. Those 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 269 

other animals have, in their own strength, sufficient 
protection. If they be born to live apart, each has 
its separate arms to defend it' 

"Man has no tusks or talons to make him terrible. 
He is weak and naked ; but weak and naked as he 
is, society surrounds him and protects him. It is 
this which submits to his power all other living 
things, and not the earth merely, which seems in 
some measure his own by birth, but the very ocean, 
that is to him another world of beings of a different 
nature. Society averts from him the attack of dis- 
eases — it mitigates his suffering when he is assailed 
by them — it gives support and happiness to his old 
age — it makes him strong in the great combat of 
human life, because it leaves him not alone to strug- 
gle with his fortune."* 

But however great and numerous the blessings 
of society may be, the social union does not take its 
rise from views of self-interest ; it forms, from the 
constitution of human nature, a necessary condition 
of man. It is not the wants and necessities of his 
animal being which create his social feelings ; for 
he is determined to society by his very nature, by 
instinct, and by innumerable principles which have 
a reference to his fellow-creatures. Man must have 
the sympathy of man ; he always wishes to infuse 
his thoughts and feelings into the minds and hearts 
of others, and to share the thoughts and feelings of 
those other minds and hearts. 

There is scarcely a moment of our existence in 
which the social affection does not influence our 
hopes and our fears, our resolutions for the future, 
and our remembrance of the past. On the society 
of his fellow-beings, man, as his Creator has made 
him, is ever ready to pour out the affections of his 
heart; to society he is ever ready to give the 

* Dr. Brown. 

r. 2 



270 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

strength of his arm, and the light of his mind ; and 
to society he always flees for sympathy in his suf- 
ferings, companionship in his rejoicings, and aid in 
his necessities. Thus, the all-wise Creator has made 
the gratification of this social affection the great 
benefactor and protector of man. 

The God of nature, who has made it delightful 
for man to associate with his fellow men, and his 
happiness to be active in this association, has like- 
wise directed him how to act amid those innumera- 
ble and responsible relations which he sees between 
him and the fellow-beings around him. These di- 
rections or laws from the Creator have made human 
life (when it is worthy of that name) to consist in 
the exercise of duties. He who lives best, dis- 
charges these duties best. And as it is necessary 
for all of us to be frequently reminded of our duties, 
I shall now state a few of those which men owe to 
each other in society. 

And first, some of the duties which come under 
the general name of Justice. " The word justice 
denoting that disposition which leads us, in cases 
where our own temper, or passions, or interests are 
concerned, to judge and to act without being biassed 
by partial considerations."* 

" We should be just towards the property of 
others. This implies honesty in all our dealings 
with men. It is right that we should have a proper 
regard for our own interest; but in promoting it, 
we should never interfere with the interests and 
rights of others. Security of property is the great 
incentive to industry, and the original cause of 
wealth. He who would take what belongs to an- 
other, does all that he can do towards destroying 
the rich and populous earth which we behold, and 
in banishing the intellectual sciences, and arts, and 

* Dugald Stewart. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 271 

systems of civil and moral polity, which distinguish 
the civilized man from the savage. 

"The certainty that we shall enjoy the fruits of our 
own labours, is the first cause which operates as the 
civilizer of man ; and he, who, like the robber, 
would appropriate to himself the property of others, 
is doing all that his hand and heart can do in send- 
ing man back to the condition, the life, and suffer- 
ings of the savage. 

" If there was not respect to the property of 
others, there would be no wealth to support, and 
no industry to be supported ; no bounty to cheer, 
and no penury to be relieved ; but there would be 
one general penury, and one common struggle for 
that scanty morsel which would alone remain for 
the wretched."* We should not only abstain from 
wresting or injuring the possessions of others, but 
we should not interfere with the lawful means 
which others may use for the acquisition of pro- 
perty. Justice towards the property of others, and 
their lawful means of acquiring it, then, I repeat, is 
what we all owe to each other. 

Justice demands that we should not interfere 
with the freedom of others' actions. This consti- 
tutes personal liberty. In civil communities, this 
right may be restricted when a man uses his free- 
dom to the injury of others. But freedom of acting 
should not be restrained by unjust laws or oppres- 
sive institutions. We should not prevent the free 
actions of others by haughtiness, bribery, or lordly 
command, but should leave every man to act accord- 
ing to his own native dignity and free choice, so 
long as his actions do not clash with the private and 
public good. 

Justice makes us respect the character or repu~ 
tation of others. 

* Dr. Brown. 



272 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

" Good name in man and woman 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls. 

But he that filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
Yet makes me poor indeed." 

To take away a man's character or reputation is 
to take away his life : it is the foulest, blackest kind 
of murder. Man possesses no treasure so pure, so 
dear, so valuable as a spotless reputation ; and he 
who would trifle with this is man's greatest foe. 
Evil-speaking is very natural and very easy to the 
wicked heart; and the communications in this world 
give a very free and a very rapid circulation to evil 
reports. But he who would indulge this wicked 
propensity, or circulate an evil report, does to his 
fellow-men the greatest injustice, and the worst of 
all possible injuries. There is nothing in our fel- 
low-men that we should respect with so much sa- 
credness as their good name. We should avoid 
every thing that would be injurious to their charac- 
ter. All insinuations which might giv T e rise to sus- 
picion or prejudice, and every thing that would 
prevent the praise or credit which is justly due to 
them. And where the individual cannot defend 
himself, we should counteract every thing that 
would be to his injury. 

Justice requires us to exercise fairness inform- 
ing our opinion of others. There is much less 
criminal intention in the world than is commonly 
supposed ; and it is our duty to estimate the conduct 
and motives of others with calmness and impartiality. 
We should make full allowance for the circumstances 
and feelings of others. We should not be willing 
to ascribe bad motives to men, nor to condemn them 
before they are proved to be dishonest. It is natural 
to ascribe good motives to our bad actions, and bad 
motives to the good actions of others. We should 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 273 

guard against this selfish principle, and this want 
of fairness and liberality to our fellow-men. We 
should always form good opinions of men, until 
their actions compel us to do otherwise. 

It is unjust to form our opinions of men from 
imperfect acquaintance or partial considerations ; 
yet men are very liable to do so. An opinion 
should not be formed or published until there is a 
full understanding of the person and the subject in 
question ; yet so ready are men to relate whatever 
has been told to them ; and so much readier are 
they to inquire what is said than what is true, that 
there is very apt to be a want of fairness in the exa- 
mination of the truth of what is uttered. This dis- 
position should make us cautious in receiving or 
circulating any thing which may injure others. 

Justice is to be exercised in judging of the state- 
ments of others. " This constitutes candour. We 
are to give a candid, deliberate hearing to the opi- 
nions, arguments, and statements of others ; estimat- 
ing fairly and honestly their weight and influence. 
This state of mind is opposed to prejudice, bigotry, 
self-love for our own opinion, attachment to precon- 
ceived opinions, and a narrow disputatious spirit."* 

In stating any thing, men are apt to take from, or 
add to, whatever they may have heard ; to give it 
a different colouring, or a different appearance from 
what they know to be the true state of the case. 
Men are apt, likewise, to draw conclusions which 
do not follow from the facts and premises which 
they have judged from. To all this unfairness in 
judging of the statements of others, candour is di- 
rectly opposed ; and he who wishes to represent 
others as he would wish to be represented, will often 
examine himself to see if he has not something of 
this deceptive spirit. 

* Dr. Abercrorabi*. 



274 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

Justice enjoins us to respect the feelings and af- 
fections of others. "We may do great injury to 
the feelings of others without hurting their interest 
or their reputation. There are minds of extreme 
delicacy, which we may deeply wound, either by 
roughness or grossness of manner, or by overbear- 
ing haughtiness and undue severity. Towards sen- 
sitive persons like these, we should behave with 
the utmost tenderness. 

" We should never ruffle the tranquil mind, nor 
disturb that equanimity of temper so necessary to a 
clear perception of truth and the happiness of the 
individual. And he who robs one of the affections 
of another, is the greatest pilferer that moves above 
the earth. The affections of others are the most 
precious possessions which man can have ; and if 
the guilt of the robber is in proportion to the evil 
he does, who is there so guilty, so base, as that man 
who steals not only the affections, but also the capa- 
city of feeling affection and confidence again. 

" He who would corrupt or lessen that remaining 
affection and love which men still have for each 
other, and which makes the earth still a paradise 
wherever they exist, does all that he can to equal 
the malignity and wickedness of the first great 
tempter of the human race."* 

Justice demands that we should be impartial in 
estimating the talents of others. Man is prone to 
detract from the reputation of others that he may 
advance his own. Perhaps there is no principle 
more deeply rooted in the human mind than the 
love of fame and distinction ; and if this principle 
is properly regulated, there is no one more subser- 
vient to valuable purposes. 

But it is the most difficult of all principles to re- 
strain within the bounds of moderation. Our ambi- 

* Dr. Brown, 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 275 

tion and self-partiality prevent us from attending to 
the merits of others, and we are blind or ill-disposed 
towards those talents and excellences which eclipse 
our own. Of this truth, he who will attend to the 
operations of his own mind will be fully satisfied. 

How necessary is it, then, that we should guard 
against that envious spirit which would prevent us 
from appreciating and honouring the genius and 
abilities of others. We should always be ready to 
see beauties and applaud excellences, and to give the 
tribute of honour wherever honour is due. 

Justice demands that we should not injure the 
moral principles of others. " He who would 
knowingly corrupt the virtue or the moral prin- 
ciples of another, either by specious argument, seduc- 
tion, or vicious example, must possess a character 
of the deepest malignity. These offences come 
under no human law ; the morality and good-will 
of man is the only restraint over them. 

" And he who wilfully lessens a single virtue in 
the heart of another, or introduces into it a single 
vice, or increases the power of any guilty passion/'* 
is an enemy to the peace of society, the happiness 
of man, and the government of his Creator. To 
unhinge the moral principles of another, in any way 
whatever, is to do the worst deed which man does 
to his fellow-men. Yet how ready are some men 
to ridicule religion, to sneer at morality, and to 
mock at every religious expression and sentiment 
of the heart. 

To such we would say, if you have no fear of 
human depravity unchecked, no fear of human ordi- 
nances, or no fear of the laws of God, yet we beseech 
you have some benevolence to your fellow-men. 
Do not use your wickedness and malice by leaguing 
with the arch-destroyer of man, in making the world 

* Dr. Crown. 



276 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

worse than it now is. Have some regard to the 
sensitive, immortal beings around you ; and if you 
have made up your minds to become abandoned in 
principle and depraved in practice, we still entreat 
you not to seek to contaminate others. 

" How guilty must be that writer, whose works- 
have contributed to violate the principles of truth 
and rectitude ; to pollute the imagination or corrupt 
the heart ! Yet this destroyer of moral being often 
goes through the scene of destruction unmolested, 
perhaps honoured, as if no power could reach the 
measure of his guilt but the hand of the Eternal. 
There is another extensive species of corruption 
which arises from profligate example. 

When the gray-headed veteran of debaucheries, 
having led a long life of unceasing excess in all that 
is gross and depraved, collects around him his band 
of youthful disciples, and relates to them the tales 
of merriment and obscenity, and watches the vicious 
passions which need to be strengthened, he presents 
an example the results of which no one can estimate. 
Surely, if there be a being on this earth whom we 
have permission to hate, with full and absolute de- 
testation, it is a human demon like this. How cir- 
cumspect should we be, that we may in no way 
whatever be the cause of injuring the moral princi- 
ples of others !"* 

* Another social duty which we owe to each other 
is that of Veracity. The happiness which we de- 
rive from intercourse with men, from the advance- 
ment and diffusion of knowledge, from the teachings 
of philosophy, and the experience of history, depends 
upon the fidelity and scrupulous accuracy with which 
we adhere to the natural, instinctive principle of 
veracity. Openness, sincerity, and truth not only 
promote our highest interest, but have an engaging, 

* Dr. Brown. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 277 

beautiful appearance wherever they are found. 
Truth is the native suggestion of the heart, and is 
always uttered, unless there are solicitations to false- 
hood too strong for the natural principle. 

Children always put implicit confidence in the 
statements of others, until experience teaches them 
the lesson of caution ; and after all our lessons of 
equivocation, duplicity, and falsehood, there is more 
belief than veracity in the world. Although the 
existence and happiness of society depend upon the 
fidelity with which men ascertain and relate the 
truth, although there is so much that is pleasing and 
attractive in truth, and although it is the natural, 
spontaneous effusion of the heart, still there is so 
much insincerity, pride, ambition, and avarice in 
the heart of man, that he finds strong solicitations 
to depart from that fidelity of purpose, that scrupu- 
lous accuracy of statement which he knows is due 
to his fellow-citizens. 

The duty of veracity should make men faithful 
and critical in ascertaining facts. There is so 
much credulity in man, that he is apt to believe 
without proper examination. (I except the subject 
of Christianity, for here the want of examination is 
the cause of unbelief.) In the affairs of life, we are 
disposed to draw general conclusions from a few 
particular facts, to judge of a whole body of men 
from a knowledge of a few individuals, and to pass 
sentence upon an individual from knowing some 
one of his opinions, or from hearing of a few facts 
in the history of his life. 

There is too strong an inclination to generalize 
and jump to conclusions. This makes man impatient 
and unfaithful in his investigations, and superficial 
in his information. He cannot expect to tell the 
truth, if he has not correctly and fully informed 
himself. He cannot be a man of veracity, however 
2 A 



278 DISTRICT SCHOOL, 

well disposed he may be, unless he is critical and 
faithful in his reception of facts. 

We should, likewise, be scrupulous in stating 
facts. They may be stated correctly, and yet give 
a false impression. The truth may be told, and yet 
a part of it withheld. A fact may be stated with- 
out the circumstances under which it occurred. 
There are many w T ays of deceiving, either by looks, 
or voice, or gesture, or suppression, or high colour- 
ing, and yet, so far as respects the prominent facts 
in the case, there may be no departure from truth. 
Much watchfulness and sincerity will be necessary 
to give us an honest, scrupulous narration. 

The third consideration in the love and practice 
of truth is faithfulness in the fulfilment of pro- 
mises. This is opposed to actual departure from 
what was distinctly promised ; likewise to all those 
encouragements which one may give another with- 
out the intention of meeting them. A straight- 
forward integrity carefully and conscientiously per- 
forms every promise, and fulfils every engagement, 
although the performance or fulfilment is attended 
with a high sacrifice of feeling and interest. 

I know of nothing that causes so much incon- 
venience and derangement in the business of life, 
that stops the exercise of so much benevolence, that 
makes truth and reality so powerless, as the depart- 
ures which men make from strict veracity. Let us, 
then, in all our intercourse, be careful to fulfil this 
duty to each other. 

" The duties which have been considered, may be 
termed negative duties, which cause us to abstain 
from the injury of others. Those which are yet to 
be considered, may be called positive duties, coming 
under the general term Benevolence. These consist 
in being active in doing good to our fellow-men."* 

* Dr. Brown. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 279 

And how touching and eloquent are the pleadings 
of the wants and ills of man ! Wherever men are 
found, there man sees and hears invitations to do 
good, the most tender and the most persuasive. 

There is nothing that calls upon man's activity 
with so much justice, so much earnestness, and with 
such high, heavenly claims, as the destitute, diseased 
condition of man, and the susceptibility of his nature 
for increased happiness. The world is ignorant, and 
wants instruction — in doubt, and asks for counsel — 
it is sick, and wishes and needs health — hungry and 
naked, and asks for food and clothing. Wherever 
man meets man, there benevolence is asked and 
required. 

It is our duty to administer to each other's per- 
sonal necessities. The rich are dependent on the 
poor, and the poor upon the rich. Some have more 
than they want, and others want more than they 
have. There is bounty to relieve, and penury to be 
relieved — there is the exercise of generosity for 
some, and the exercise of gratitude for others. There 
are some who are "nobly maimed," some are un- 
fortunate, and others whose woes make men forget 
their vices: all these are brothers of the human 
family, and ask our benevolence for the necessaries 
of man. These petitions should be heard, and if 
there is ability, cheerfully granted. 

Our benevolence should be eager to relieve per- 
sonal suffering. This we may do by erecting hos- 
pitals and asylums, by visiting and administering to 
the sick, and by sending to the disabled the comforts 
of life. Whenever a fellow-being is in pain or de- 
spondency, we should be disposed to relieve and to 
cheer. The supplications of the sick and the sor- 
rowful should be heard and answered, as well as the 
invitations of the gay and the happy. 

We should sympathize with the sufferer as well 
as rejoice with the prosperous. It is as much, or 



280 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

more, our duty to relieve personal pain, as it is to 
add to personal pleasure. Benevolence can make 
the world much happier by supplying the warts of 
the necessitous, and relieving the sufferings of the 
diseased, than it can by giving comforts to the 
comfortable ; yet the most of our benevolence is apt 
to expend itself in sympathy with those who would 
be happy without it. 

Prosperity always owes a duty to adversity ; the 
fortunate should regard the unfortunate ; and the 
virtuous should pity the vicious. Benevolence 
should be the great moral link which unites man to 
man ; and it should be our business to visit the lonely 
and the neglected, to comfort the distressed, and to 
counsel the weak and the wavering. 

It is our duty to attend to the education and, in- 
struction of others. " The virtue of mankind, and 
the knowledge which invigorates that virtue and 
renders it more surely useful, are the greatest objects 
which benevolence can have in view/'* To instruct 
the ignorant in useful knowledge is to do the greatest 
good that man is'privileged to confer. 

There is no benevolence so exalted, so useful, so 
heavenly, as that which pours mental and moral light 
into the rational, immortal mind. To give the 
ignorant an education is the only way that we can 
give them the power of fulfilling the object of their 
being. This divine benevolence, all who have had 
an education are permitted and required to exercise. 

We may instruct by founding and endowing lite- 
rary institutions ; by petitioning for or enacting laws 
which encourage a sound universal education ; by 
instructing those who make teaching their profession; 
by ascertaining the amount and means of education 
among the ivhole people ; by improving the condi- 
tion of the schools, and by imparting useful informa- 
tion wherever we meet with mind. 
* Dr. Brown. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 281 

Man was put into society to love and enlighten 
man ; and when he does this duty, he feels a pleasure 
which is purer and higher than any other. To know 
our duty to ourselves, to our fellow-men, and to our 
Creator, is the duty of all ; and having known, it is 
our duty to give this knowledge to every human 
being. 

It is our duty to make men moral. And to make 
them moral is not only to make them refrain from 
the grosser vices of men and to do their duty to their 
neighbours, but likewise to persuade them to love 
and obey their Creator. To raise the moral condi- 
tion of man by instructing the ignorant, by rescuing 
the unwary, and by reclaiming the vicious, implies 
the highest species of useful benevolence. 

But we cannot make man happy by giving him 
honours, possessions, or pleasures ; if we make him 
happy we must make him moral. And we cannot 
make men moral by merely making them polite and 
learned ; but we take the proper means to do this 
when we give them that Word which is truth, and 
which sanctifies men. Therefore, to improve the 
moral condition of men is to make them sober, en- 
lightened Christians. Any thing short of this is but 
little else than a change from one vice to another. 
Our benevolence, then, in raising the moral condi- 
tion of man, should be exercised in making him 
understand, believe, and practise the truths of the 
Bible. 

A fixed, settled benevolence disposes us at all 
times to be agreeable to our fellow-men. "There 
are many who are not deficient in what we usually 
call deeds of benevolence, yet who are still very apt 
to forget that a most important exercise of true 
benevolence consists in the habitual cultivation and 
practice of courtesy, gentleness, and kindness ; and 
that these dispositions often increase the comforts 
2 A 2 



282 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

and happiness of others to a greater degree than any 
actual deeds of beneficence."* 

This "benevolence in trifles" is something that 
we as a people do not yet very well understand ; yet 
the greater part of the happiness of life consists in 
those little attentions, those "minor decencies" 
which cost us no trouble or money, but which we, 
from selfishness or sturdy independence, are very 
much disposed to overlook. To make others happy 
by conforming our feelings to theirs, by taking an 
interest in the worthy objects of their pursuit, and 
by entering into their plans and opinions, is a sym- 
pathy we all desire, and a benevolence we all owe. 
He that does this exercises no small virtue. To 
make ourselves agreeable by flattery, or by pamper- 
ing vicious appetites, is detestable ; it is to make 
ourselves wholly unworthy of esteem or friendship. 

But to make ourselves agreeable by imparting 
innocent amusement or useful knowledge, by in- 
creasing the general happiness and good-will of the 
company, or by sharing the sorrows and sufferings 
of others, is a benevolent tribute which we all owe- 
to those we meet with. Whenever we meet with 
our fellow-men, we should always desire, and do all 
in our power to make them happier and better. 

And, lastly, in all our intercourse with men we 
should endeavour to make peace. This becomes, 
in a world that is quick to take offence and slow to 
forgive it, a very important duty. To be a peace- 
maker where there are constant provocations and 
systematic injustice, met as constantly by unrelent- 
ing resentment and revenge, is one of the most 
honourable, charitable, and heavenly capacities that 
men can ever act in. 

He who allays strife, calms the passionate, and 
soothes excitement, is, indeed, a welcome and a 

* Dugald Stewart. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 283 

blessed mediator between man and man. As we 
have already said, there is much less criminal inten- 
tion in the world than is generally imagined — the 
most of the differences among men arising from mis- 
understanding and misrepresentation; and hence it 
becomes us to put the best possible construction upon 
the actions of others, and not to judge hastily or 
report unfavourably. 

We should discountenance all insinuations, and 
strive to make the parties better understood by each 
other. We should avoid every thing that would 
injure the feelings or the friendship of others. We 
should endeavour to destroy prejudice, abate ani- 
mosity, and to establish a friendly, social intercourse 
among all men. 

He who adds one emotion of love more to the 
world, or takes away from it one of hatred, is a 
benefactor to man. He who makes friendship 
where there was enmity, kindness where there was 
a disposition to injure, and gratitude where there 
was suspicion, may truly be said "to go about doing 
good." "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they 
shall be called the children of God." 



SECTION V. 



PATRIOTIC DUTIES TO OUR COUNTlu. 

"In an extensive and populous country, the in- 
stinctive affection of patriotism is apt to grow lan- 
guid among the mass of the people, and therefore 
it becomes the more necessary to impress on their 
minds those considerations of reason and duly 



284 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

which recommend public spirit as one of the prin- 
cipal branches of morality."* 

There is a foundation laid in nature for distinct 
communities. Mountains, oceans, and continents 
create natural divisions ; and the diversity of lan- 
guages, customs, manners, and products unite with 
these natural divisions to separate tribes and nations 
from each other. These causes always separate 
men during the earlier ages of society, but their 
effect becomes less and less as society advances, and 
reason improves. 

The prejudices which arise among different na- 
tions, from arbitrary signs and ceremonies, may be ne- 
cessary, during the infancy of reason, to maintain or- 
der, and to form the people into united governments. 
But when the mind becomes more mature, and can 
look beyond the sign and the ceremony, these bar- 
riers of affection and free intercourse are seen to be 
but useless trifles, and will gradually disappear. 

The strong tendency of reason and affection to 
unite every people and nation, shows us that the 
principles of disunion (for patriotism implies a sepa- 
ration) are not malign and original in the human 
heart. While we love the land of our birth, and 
defend the government that protects us, we may 
still wish the prosperity of every other land, and 
the perfection of every other government. Duties 
to our countrymen, and to the laws of our country, 
do not imply ill-will to others. 

" Men may be enthusiastic, and even selfish, in 
loving their country. To love the land of our fa- 
thers, and the land of our birth, is natural to all, and 
the duty of all. To love and venerate the great 
names and the great deeds recorded in the history 
of our country, is a patriotic duty which every 
American youth rejoices to perform. In loving 

* Dugald Stewart. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 285 

our country, we love every individual in it, for each 
is a part of the one great whole. 

" The heart feels an affection for those who tread 
the same soil, who breathe the same air, and rejoice 
in the same freedom. We feel united by the closest 
ties to those who lend vigour to the same institu- 
tions, who with us have one common interest and 
one common enemy."* Interests and relations like 
these unite the hands and hearts of American youth 
with ties too strong for ambition or rivalry to break 
asunder. Affection is the great accompaniment of 
duty : and when affection is so strong and so uni- 
versal, there must be duties of no slight obligation. 

" Our first patriotic duty is the duty of obe- 
dience. Obedience to the government under which 
we live, does not become a duty, merely because 
that government exists, or has long existed, but be- 
cause mankind — at least that large part of mankind, 
which we term our country — would suffer, upon 
the whole, if we were not to obey."* This gives 
authority to any government to claim the obedience 
of every citizen. 

" He who is wise enough to consult for the public 
weal, and good enough to wish it, will never hazard 
a revolution because a few abuses exist, and a faint 
hope appears of correcting them. Though we may 
see imperfections in the government, which tend to 
lessen our happiness and respectability, we should 
yet be forbearing, and reflect on the happy influence 
of diffusive knowledge, and upon the little that is to 
be hoped from the exercise of force. 

" We should weigh the good with the good, and 
the evil with the evil, before we lift the voice against 
the government that protects us. ' The speculative 
line of demarcation, where obedience ought to end, 
and resistance to begin, is/ as Mr. Burke truly says, 

* Dr. Brown. 



286 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

' faint, obscure, and not easily definable. Govern- 
ment must be abused and deranged, indeed, before 
it can be thought of; and the prospect of the future 
must be as bad as the experience of the past. When 
things are in that lamentable condition, the nature 
of the disease is to indicate the remedy to those 
whom nature has qualified to administer in extremi- 
ties, this critical, ambiguous, bitter potion to a dis- n 
tempered state. 

"Times, and occasions, and provocations, will 
teach their own lessons. The wise will determine 
from the gravity of the case — the irritable from sen- 
sibility to oppression — the highminded, from dis- 
dain and indignation at abusive power in unworthy 
hands — the brave and bold from the love of ho- 
nourable danger in a generous cause ; but with or 
without right, a revolution will be the very last 
resource of the thinking and the good.' " 

In these free independent states, the people do 
not believe in the " divine right to govern." We 
recognise no other principle which gives moral 
authority, than that which bestows the greatest 
possible amount of happiness, the longest period of 
time, on the greatest possible number of people ; 
and this principle is self-government, with equal 
rights and privileges to all mankind. " The divine 
right to govern wrong," cannot be a right derived 
from the Divinity. The God, who is the God of 
happiness, of truth, and virtue, would not, surely, 
authorize any man to make His creatures miserable. 
The origin of power and the authority of civil law 
can arise from no other source than from the free, 
full consent of those who make the laws which they 
are to obey. We do not believe that " law is a rule 
of action proceeding from a superior to an inferior," 
but a rule of action prescribed by that ivhole 
people who are to obey the law. As the people 
cannot be superior to themselves, our laws cannot 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 287 

come from a superior to an inferior. Such is the 
authority which rests in the laws of the United 
States. 

The constitution and the laws of this government 
have emanated fro7n the people. They have not 
only made the laws, but have promised to obey 
them ; and thus have given the strongest authority 
which laws can possibly have. Unjust laws and 
tyrannical institutions, imposed by despots, may 
have no claim on the people's obedience ; but laws, 
which the people have made, and in making, pro- 
mised to obey ; which recognise equal rights and 
privileges to all, which derive their authority from 
the consent of those who are to obey, and from that 
which is right and just within itself, must possess 
the highest claims to implicit, universal obedience ; 
and such is the obedience which every citizen of 
these United States owes to this republican govern- 
ment. 

We present" the only example of a convention of 
the people, antecedent to the existence of their go- 
vernment. The people assembled and elected re- 
presentatives to this convention, for the avowed 
purpose of framing a new constitution. This depu- 
tation from the people deliberated and resolved 
upon a form of government. The people adopted 
the government they had framed, and thus gave it 
its moral authority. Obedience to the constitution 
and laws of the United States is therefore a patriotic 
and a moral duty; and every member of this com- 
monwealth is under a legal and a moral obligation 
to obey his government. 

It is our duty to respect those who have been 
elected to civil offices. The want of proper respect 
for those who enact and administer the laws, begets 
a want of respect for the law itself ; and if it is not 
respected, there had better be no law. While every 
government must necessarily partake very much 



2S8 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

of the character of those who administer it, it like- 
wise will receive the same love and respect which 
the people give to its officers. In the United States, 
the people are liable to withhold the proper regard 
which they should have for their civil officers. 
These men are taken from among the people. Be- 
fore they were elected to office, they received no 
more respect than any other fellow-citizen ; and as 
they were formerly considered and estimated by 
the people, they are likely to be regarded while in- 
trusted with their office. But this should not be 
so ; the sacredness and majesty of the law give its 
officers a claim to our respect; and every man who 
understands and reverences his government, will 
transfer his respect to those who guard and admi- 
nister it. 

The universal practice of defaming candidates for 
office will have a tendency to make us have less 
respect for those who are elected. We should guard 
against this influence by discriminating between the 
true character, and that which is given by party 
spirit, and by estimating the successful candidate in 
connexion with the duties and sanctity of the office. 
In politics, the majority govern ; and he who has 
the majority should, while in office, have the respect 
of all. Obedience to the laws and respect to civil 
officers, are the first patriotic duties of every citi- 
zen. 

The third duty which I shall mention is, we should 
defend the laws and constitution of our country. 
The duty of defending the land which we love, 
may be implied in the love we bear to it. But 
when our fathers, by their " valour and their blood," 
gave us a free government, they asked our virtue 
and our patriotism to defend it. When we received 
this glorious boon, we promised to defend it: and. 
when aggression would corrupt or destroy this con- 
secrated temple of freedom, it is a duty which we 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 2S9 

owe to our fathers and ourselves to defend it with 
our persons, our property, and our lives. 

" To think of the invader of our land and our 
rights, is to feel the duty of opposition. If we hear 
that the foot of an enemy has pressed our soil with 
an enemy's purpose, we think of our excellent frame 
of laws which will be broken down ; of the wild 
disorder and desolation that will spread over the 
land ; of the miseries of blood and rapine which in- 
vasion will produce ; and of the deeper miseries of 
slavery and oppression which conquest will bring ; 
these thoughts, together with the love we bear to 
our countrymen and our kindred, will rouse every 
spirit, and nerve every arm, and the invader must 
retreat or perish."* 

We may be assailed by the calumnies of rival 
nations, but our defence in this case should be to 
live in such a manner that will prove their asser- 
tions false. By wincing or retorting, we will give 
importance to that which, originally, had no claim 
to our notice. Whatever personal pique or national 
jealousy may think or write about us, let it be our 
constant aim to present to all, the spectacle of a free, 
intelligent, highminded people. Let the virtue, 
the liberty, and the prosperity of our country defend 
the wisdom of its people, its laws, and its constitu- 
tion. 

" The citizen, then, is to obey the laws and to de- 
fend them. These two duties relate to the political 
system that exists. He has still one other great 
duty, which relates not to things as they are, but 
to things as they may be. He is not to preserve 
the present system only ; he is to endeavour, if it 
require or admit of improvement of any sort, to 
render it still more extensively useful to those who 
live under it, and still more worthy of the admira- 

* Dr. Brown. 
2B 



290 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

tion of the world than, with all its excellence, it 
yet may be. 

" It is the duty of every citizen to increase, to the 
best of his power, the means of public happiness in 
the nation : this he should do by every aid which 
he can give to its external or internal resources ; 
and especially, as the most important of all ends, 
by every improvement which it would be prudent 
to attempt, of any existing evils, in its laws and 
general forms of polity."* 

The citizen, then, is not only to admire the laws, 
but he is, to the best of his ability, to improve them. 
Every thing human is more or less imperfect, and, 
therefore, will always admit of amendment. And 
he who thoroughly understands his government, 
and sincerely loves it, will, even in the best of 
governments, see many deficiencies to be supplied, 
and many faults to be corrected. It is the affection- 
ate, faithful duty of every member of this common- 
wealth to detect and expose the errors of a govern- 
ment, which the highest wisdom and experience 
have endeavoured to perfect. 

It is not true patriotism that would keep defects 
out of sight ; nor is he a true patriot who can see 
nothing to be improved. But while we are perform- 
ing the important duty of closely searching for the 
evils that exist, we should at the same time remem- 
ber that it is very easy to declaim against abuses. 
To find fault with every thing, and at any time, is 
never difficult. Some do it that they may make a 
show of superiority ; and others to gratify a cynical 
disposition. It seems as if some were glad to find 
a fault, that they may have a chance to round a few 
periods of abusive eloquence. Such declaimers 
should be treated with contempt. 

But he who, out of love to his country and to his 

* Dr. Brown. 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 291 

fellow-men, presents a deficiency or a defect, should 
have a candid, respectful hearing. No one who 
loves the general good, will decry against men or 
measures, merely to gratify his own selfish feelings ; 
but such a man must publish wrongs and point out 
evils. He does it because the happiness of man is 
dearer to him than the respect of blind admirers of 
their country. 

But, however honest we may be in our efforts to 
reform, we should always act cautiously : and where 
there is not experience to consult, and a difference 
of opinion, we should mistrust our judgments. Sud- 
den changes and rash innovations are always to be 
feared. Blind zeal and hasty measures we all have 
a right to suspect. The true patriot, then, will ex- 
ercise a proper respect for the laws and institutions 
that are, and will attentively consider the evils of a 
change, and of the chances for and against him of 
making the proposed alteration an extensive, per- 
manent amendment. 

Men are apt to make changes under the name of 
reform, because they see obstacles to their ambition 
or avarice. We are very liable to be deceived here. 
What we wish to be so, we easily believe ought to 
be so. When a statesman contemplates a change, 
and sees that it will greatly improve his own inte- 
rest, it is not very difficult to omit the consideration 
of the nation's good ; at least, arguments for the 
latter will not occur so readily as arguments for the 
former. We need to watch ourselves, therefore, 
when we would recommend a new law, or an altera- 
tion in the existing one. When we act for the pub- 
lic, let us see that the public good is our motive. 

We may fulfil the duty of augmenting the general 
happiness of our country by increasing its pro- 
ducts. He is a benefactor to his country who im- 
proves the art of cultivating the soil ; who invents 
or brings into general notice useful instruments of 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

husbandry ; who brings to greater perfection the 
different varieties of grain, and makes known their 
most congenial soil and climate. He who makes 
two blades of grass grow where but one has been 
raised, increases the means of his country's happi- 
ness. 

He who gives his leisure moments to the science 
of mineralogy, and by this means discovers a mine 
of coal or metallic ore, opens to his country a source 
of labour and of wealth ; and they who invent ma- 
chinery for manufacturing the minerals of the earth, 
and the products of the soil, are justly counted bene- 
factors of their nation. As the products of a nation 
are the wages of a people, he who increases the 
amount of labour by machinery or skill, so as to in- 
crease the products, will, in the same proportion, 
increase the wealth of the people. A mechanic 
may bless his country by improving his tools, his 
machinery, and the article he manufactures. 

A farmer may do a national good by improving 
the breed of cattle, and of all kinds of stock, and by 
enriching the soil he cultivates. To make this in- 
crease and improvement in the products of the land, 
is the duty, as far as he is able, of every citizen. 
The nation gives him protection and encouragement 
that he may do so ; and in his allegiance he promises 
to do his duty and seek his country's greatest good. 

We may increase the happiness of our people by 
opening new markets for our products. We have 
some wants which we cannot supply, and others for 
which we have more than a supply. By exchang- 
ing equal values with other nations, the surplus of 
our products are given for those which we could 
not supply ourselves ; or else the surplus is ex- 
changed for money, which, having a common value, 
may be given for any required necessary of life. 

Now, he who opens a new market where the raw 
materials and manufactures which remain after our 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 293 

wants are supplied, may be exchanged for money 
or the necessaries of life, has increased the labour 
and the wealth of his country. We may open new 
markets at home by increasing the consumption with 
new manufactories. By these noble, national enter- 
prizes, every citizen may be a patron and a blesser 
of his country ; and a man is obligated to do not 
only what is right, but all that he can do. 

We may increase our country's strength and 
wealth by facilitating the intercourse between 
districts. The projection and execution of canals 
and rail-roads, making rivers navigable, and opening 
highways between important locations, increases 
the value of the lands, and unites the strength of a 
nation. The prosperity of a country depends as 
much upon the rapidity and cheapness of its inland 
conveyance, as it does upon its good soil and safe 
harbours. 

When the transportation is cheap and regular, 
remote districts enjoy the advantages of home and 
foreign markets ; by this means they are placed by 
the side of seaport towns. To facilitate intercourse 
where the lands are as distant as they are in the 
United States, is a very important duty, and one 
that every citizen owes to the prosperity of his 
country. 

Another benevolent and patriotic duty of citizens 
is the establishment of institutions of charity and 
instruction. Institutions like these are the fairest 
ornaments of the land; and the founder of them is 
entitled to the lasting gratitude of nations. In the 
United States, the literary institutions are the 
sources and the depositories of liberty; and the 
charitable institutions of this republic — the asylum 
of a world — are the resting places and the home 
of the destitute and the helpless of every nation. 

He who founds a school of instruction, establishes 
the liberty of his country ; and he who educates 
2 u 2 



294 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

the people, makes them free. Those who have en- 
lightened mankind, and diffused useful knowledge 
through the whole mass of the people, have been 
the greatest philanthropists of their race, for I know 
of no benevolence so exalted as that which pours 
light and truth into the immortal mind. 

He who wishes his country to take a high stand- 
ing among the nations of the earth ; he who wishes 
for the growing improvement and prosperity of his 
countrymen ; and he who wishes the perpetuity of 
this glorious example of liberty and self-govern- 
ment, will desire to do all in his power to educate 
the people. We may serve our country by defend- 
ing her constitution, by fighting her battles, and by 
contributing to her revenues ; but never do we serve 
her so nobly and so effectually as we do when we 
educate her people. 

The enlightened man makes the laws his slaves 
under him ; but the ignorant man is a slave under 
the laws. Intelligent men and freemen are always 
synonymous ; — they always have and always will 
signify the same thing. Then, let those who would 
serve their country in the highest and noblest capa- 
city which they can have, see that the education 
and the literature of their country is supported and 
encouraged. 

It is the duty of citizens to be able and dis- 
posed to correct the errors which exist in the sys- 
tems of government. Experience, where there is 
proper observation and reflection, is a constant 
teacher. That which appeared wise in theory yes- 
terday, may, by trying its application, appear inex- 
pedient in practice to-morrow. 

The law that looked just and benevolent in the 
abstract, may, when meeting with the relations of 
other laws, be found unsuitable in practice ; and 
laws which have received the approval of those who 
obey, may, under a change of circumstances, be 



DISTRICT SCHOOL. 295 

found oppressive. It is the duty, therefore, of citi- 
zens to correct the errors which ignorance, or inex- 
perience, or change of circumstances have occasioned. 

As long as the machinery of government is a 
human construction, there will be errors in it, and 
it is the duty of men to watch the effect of expe- 
rience, and detect that which may be pernicious, 
and succour that which is found beneficial. By 
this means we may do much to augment the general 
happiness. He who exposes a bad law, and pro- 
poses a good one in its stead, presents a valuable 
offering to society. A wise law may do more good 
to a nation than all its individual benevolence. It 
may prevent evils and confer blessings which will 
place its author among the benefactors of his age. 

Citizens may increase the general happiness of 
their country, by adapting their form of govern- 
ment to the condition and character of the people. 
Man is a mutable being. Our motives, purposes, 
objects of affection, and views of life, are the subjects 
of a continued change. The principle of mutation 
runs not only through the life of each individual, 
but through the whole spirit and genius of nations. 
What was applauded and reverenced yesterday, is 
despised to-day. 

Such is the fluctuation of feeling, and the transi- 
toriness of opinion. Now, that is the best govern- 
ment which is best adapted to the feelings, educa- 
tion, and circumstances of its subjects. When the 
people become different, their government should 
become different. The influence of the laws should 
be such as to assist a good change, or check a bad 
one. And as the people are constantly varying, 
the laws will require a corresponding modification. 

He who sees these mutations in the people, and 
the influence of the existing government, will know 
whether they are adapted to each other or not : and 
if he perceives an unsuitableness in the one to the 



296 DISTRICT SCHOOL. 

other, he will confer a blessing on the nation by 
making the incongruity known. 

And, lastly, we may augment the general happi- 
ness of our country, by making ourselves virtuous 
and intelligent. To perform this duty, is to pre- 
pare ourselves for every other one ; and every citi- 
zen of a free government is under a legal and a moral 
obligation to become intelligent enough to make his 
laws, and virtuous enough to obey them. 

In this country, knowledge is brought to the door 
of every man ; means of useful information may be 
used by all, for every encouragement is given to 
our citizens that they may " inform the head and 
improve the heart." To improve ourselves that 
we may enlighten others, and to lead a moral and 
a religious life that we may be a good example to 
others, is a duty which every man owes to his 
fellow-men ; but how emphatically is it the duty 
of freemen ! 

We do not give our country liberty by giving it 
just and equal laws, but by giving it intellectual 
and religious instruction ; neither do we give our 
country greatness and happiness by giving it a free 
constitution, but by giving the whole people mental 
and moral light. Then, if we would perpetuate our 
country's happiness and liberty, we must make 
ourselves intellectual and moral instructers. If we 
would be patriotic citizens, we must be well-in- 
formed, religious men. 



THE END. 



THE PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. 

" The editors and publishers should receive the thanks of the present 
generation, and the gratitude of posterity, for being the first to prepare in 
This language what deserves to be entitled not the ENCYCLOPAEDIA 
AMERICANA, but the people's library." — N. Y, Courier and Enquirer. 

Just Published, by Carey, Lea, and Blanchard, 

And sold in Philadelphia by E. L. Carey fy A. Hart; in New- York by 
Gr. cjr C. $ H. Carvill ; in Boston by Carter fy Hevdee; in Baltimore by E. 
J. Coale, <$■ W. fy J. Neal; in Washington by Thompson <$- Homant ; in 
Richmond by J. H. Nash; in Savannah by W. T. Williams; in Charleston 
by W. H. Berreit; in New-Orleans by W. MKean; in Mobile by Odiorne 
4' Sfnit& ; and by the principal booksellers throughout the Union. 



THE 

ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA: 

A 

POPULAR DICTIONARY 

OF 

ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS, 

BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME, AND INCLUDING A COPIOUS 
COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ARTICLES IN 

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY: 
On the basis of the Seventh Edition of the German 

CONVERSATIONS-LEXICON. 



Edited by FRANCIS LIEBER, 

ASSISTED BY 

EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH and T. G. BRADFORD, EsaRS. 



INTHfPTEENLARGEVOLUMES, OCTAVO, PRICE TO SUBSCRIBERS, 
BOUND IN CLOTH, TWO DOLLARS AND A HALF EACH. 
EACH VOLUME WILL CONTAIN BETWEEN 600 AND 700 PAGES. 



"THE WORLD-RENOWNED CONVERSATIONS-LEXICON."— Edinburgh, 
Review. 

" To supersede cumbrous Encyclopaedias, and put within the reach of the poor- 
est man, a complete library, equal to about forty or fifty good-sized octavos, em- 
bracing every possible subject of interest to the number of 20,000 in all— provided 
he can spare either from his earnings or his extravagancies, twenty cents a week, 
for three years, a library so contrived, as to be equally suited to the learnei J and 
the unlearned,— the mechanic— the merchant, and the professional man."— JV. Y. 
Courier and Inquirer. 

" The reputation of this valuable work has augmented with each volume ; and 
if the unanimous opinion of the press, uttered from all quarters, be true, which 
in this instance happens to be the case, it is indeed one of the best of publica- 
tions. It should be in the possession of every intelligent man, as it is a library 
in itself, comprising an immense mass of lore upon almost every possible sub- 
ject, and in the cheapest possible form." — JV. Y. Mirror. 



"Witnesses from every part of the country concurred in declaring that the 
Encyclopaedia Americana was in a fair way to degrade the dignity of learning, 
and especially the learning of Encyclopaedias, by making it too cheap — that the 
multitudes of all classes were infatuated with it in saying in so many words 
from the highest to the lowest, ' the more we see of the work the better we like 
it.' " — JV. Y. Courier and Inquirer. 

"The articles in the present volume appear to us to evince the same ability 
and research which gained so favorable a reception for the work at its com- 
mencement. The Appendix to the volume now before us, containing an account 
of the Indian Languages of America, must prove highly interesting to the reader 
in this country; and it is at once remarkable as a specimen of history and phi- 
lology. The work altogether, we may again be permitted to observe, reflects 
distinguished credit upon the literary and scientific character, as well as the 
scholarship of our country." — Charleston Courier. 

"The copious information which this work affords on American subjects, 
fully justifies its title of an American Dictionary; while at the same time the 
extent, variety, and felicitous disposition of its topics, make it the most conve- 
nient and satisfactory Encyclopaedia that we have ever seen." — JVationalJoumal. 

" If the succeeding volumes shall equal in merit the one before us, we may 
confidently anticipate for the work a reputation and usefulness which ought to 
secure for it the most flattering encouragement and patronage." — Federal Gazette. 

"The variety of topics is of course vast, and they are treated in a manner 
which is at once so full of information and so interesting, that the work, instead 
of being merely referred to, might be regularly perused with as much pleasure as 
profit." — Baltimore American. 

" We view it as a publication worthy of the age and of the country, and can- 
not but believe the discrimination of our countrymen will sustain the publish- 
ers, and well reward them for this contribution to American Literature." — Bal- 
timore Patriot. 

" It reflects the greatest credit on those who have been concerned in its pro- 
duction, and promises, in a variety of respects, to be the best as well as the most 
compendious dictionary of the arts, sciences, history, politics, biography, <fcc. 
which has yet been compiled. The style of the portion we have read is tetse 
and perspicuous; and it is really curious how so much scientific and other in- 
formation could have been so satisfactorily communicated in such brief limits." 
— JV. Y. Evening Post. 

" A compendious library, and invaluable book of reference." — JV. Y. American. 

"Those who can, by any honest modes of economy, reserve the sum of two 
dollars and fifty cents quarterly, from their family expenses, may pay for this 
work as fast as it is published ; and we confidently believe that they will find at 
the end that they never purchased so much general, practical, useful information 
ar so cheap a rate." — Journal of Education. 

" Tf the encouragement to the publishers should correspond with the testimony 
in favor of their enterprise, and the beautiful and faithful style of its execution, 
the hazard of the undertaking, hold as it was, will he well compensated ; and 
our libraries will be enriched by the most generally useful encyclopedic diction- 
ary that has been offered to the readers of the English language. Full enough 
for the genera! scholar, and plain enough for every capacity, it is far more con- 
venient, in every view and form, than its more expensive and ponderous prede- 
cessors " — American Farmer. 

"The high reputation of the contributors to this work, will not fail to insur- 
it a favorable reception, and its own merits will do the rest."— Silliman's Joun, 

" The work will he a valuable possession to every family or individual thai 
can afford to purchase it; and we take pleasure, therefore, in extending the 
knowledge of its merits." — National Intelligencer. 

"The Encylopa^dia Americana is a prodigious improvement upon all that has 
cone before it ; a thing for our country, as well as the country that have it birth, 
to be proud of; an inexhaustible treasury of useful, pleasant, and familiar learn- 
ing on every possible subject so arranged as to be speedily and safety referred to 
on emergency, as well as on deliberate inquiry; and better still, adapted to the 
understanding, and put within the reach of the multitude * * * The Ency- 
clopaedia Americana is a work without winch no library worthy of the name 
can hereafter be made up." — Yankee. 



CABINET CYCtOPiEDIA, 

CONDUCTED BY THE 

REV. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL.D. F.R.S. L.&.E. 
M.R.I. A. F.L.S. F.Z.S. Hon.F.C.P.S. M. Ast. S. &x. &c. 

ASSISTED BY 

EMINENT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN. 



Now Publishing by Carey, Lea, fy Blanchard, and for sale by all Booksellers 

This work will form a popular compendium of whatever is useful, instructive, 
and interesting, in the circle of human knowledge. A novel plan of publication 
and arrangement has been adopted, which presents peculiar advantages. With- 
out fully detailing the method, a few of these advantages may be mentioned. 

Each volume will contain one or more subjects uninterrupted and unbroken, 
and will be accompanied by the corresponding plates or other appropriate illus- 
trations. Facility of reference will be obtained without fettering the work by 
a continued alphabetical arrangement. A subscriber may omit particular vol- 
umes or sets of volumes, without disintegrating his series. Thus each purchaser 
may form from the "'Cabinet" a Cyclopaedia, more or less comprehensive, as 
may suit his means, taste, or profession. If a subscriber desire to discontinue 
the work at any stage of its publication, the volumes which he may have re- 
ceived will not lose their value by separation from the rest of the work, since 
they will always either be complete in themselves, or may be made so at a trifling 
expense. 

The purchasers will never find their property in this work destroyed by the 
publication of a second edition. The arrangement is such that particular vol- 
umes may be re-edited or re-written without disturbing the others. The "Cabi- 
net Cyclopaedia " will thus be in a state of continual renovation, keeping pace 
with the never-ceasing improvements in knowledge, drawing within its circle 
from year to year whatever is new, and casting off" whatever is obsolete, so as to 
form a constantly modernized Cyclopaedia. Such are a few of the advantages 
which the proprietors have to offer to the public, and which they pledge them- 
selves to realize. 

Treatises on subjects which are technical and professional will be adapted, 
not so much to those who desire to attain a practical proficiency, as to those 
who seek that portion of information respecting such matters which is generally 
expected from well-educated persons. An interest will be imparted to what, is 
abstract by copious illustrations, and the sciences will be rendered attractive, by 
treating them with reference to the most familiar objects and occurrences. 

The unwieldly bulk of Encyclopaedias, not less than the abstruse discussions 
which they contain, has hitherto consigned them to the library, as works of only 
occasional reference. The present work, from its portable form and popular style, 
will claim a place in the drawing-room and the boudoir. Forming in itself a 
Complete Library, affording an extensive and infinitely varied store of instruc 
tion and amusement, presenting just so much on every subject as those not pro 
fessionally engaged in it require, convenient in size, attractive in form, elegant 
in illustrations, and most moderate in expense, the "Cabinet Cyclopaedia" will, 
it is hoped, be found an object of paramount interest in every family. 

To the heads of schools and all places of public education the proprietors trust 
that this work will particularly recommend itself. 

It seems scarcely necessary to add, that nothing will be admitted into the 
pages of the " Cabinet Cyclopedia" which can have the most remote tendency 
to offend public or private morals. To enforce the cultivation of religion and 
the practice of virtue should be a principal object with all who undertake to 
inform the public mind ; but with the views just explained, the conductor of this 
work feels these considerations more especially pressed upon his attention 
Parents and guardians may, therefore, rest assured that they will never find it 
necessary to place a volume of the "Cabinet" beyond the reach of their children 
or pupils. 



LARDNER S CABINET CYCLOPEDIA. 



IT IS NOT EASY TO DEVISE A CURE FOR SUCH A STATE OF THINGS (THE DE- 
CLINING TASTE FOR SCIENCE;) BUT THE MOST OBVIOUS REMEDY IS TO PROVIDE 
TfTE EDUCATED CLASSES WITH A SERIES OF WORKS ON POPULAR AND PRACTI- 
CAL SCIENCE, FREED FROM MATHEMATICAL SYMBOLS AND TECHNICAL TERMS, 
WRITTEN IN SIMPLE AND PERSPICUOUS LANGUAGE, AND ILLUSTRATED BY FACTS 
AIID EXPERIMENTS, WHICH ARE LEVEL TO THE CAPACITY OF ORDINARY MINDS." 

Quarterly Review. 



PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE ON THE OBJECTS, ADVAN- 
TAGES, AND PLEASURES OF THE STUDY OF NATU- 
RAL PHILOSOPHY. By J. T. W. Herschcl, A. M. late Fel- 
low of St. John's College, Cambridge. 

"Without disparaging any other of the many interesting and instructive vol- 
umes issued in the form of cabinet and family libraries, it is, perhaps, not too 
much to place at the head of the list, for extent and variety of condensed infor 
mation, Mr. llerchel's discourse of Natural Philosophy in Dr. Lardner's Cyclo- 
paedia." — Christian Observer. 

" The finest work of philosophical genius which this age has seen."— Mackin- 
tosh's England. 

"By far the most delightful book to which the existing competition befveen 
literary rivals of great talent and enterprise has given rise." — Monthly Review. 

" Mr. Herschel's delightful volume. * * * We find scattered through the 
work instances of vivid and happy illustration, where the fancy is usefully called 
into action, so as sometimes to remind us of the splendid pictures which crowd 
upon us in the style of Bacon." — Quarterly Review. 

" It is the most exciting volume of the kind we ever met with."— Monthly 
Magazine. 

" One of the most instructive and delightful books we have ever perused." — 
U. S. Journal. 



A TREATISE ON MECHANICS. By Capt. Kater, and the 
Rev. Dionysius Lardner. With numerous engravings. 

"A work which contains an uncommon amount of useful information, ex- 
hibited in a plain and very intelligible form."— Olmsted's JVat. Philosophy. 

"This volume has been lately published in England, as a part of Dr. Lardner's 
Cabinet Cyclopaedia, and has received the unsolicited approbation of the most 
eminent men of science, and the most discriminating journals and reviews, in 
tiie British metropolis.— It is written in a popular and intelligible style, entirely 
free from mathematical symbols, and disencumbered as far as possible of tech- 
nical phrases." — Boston Traveller. 

" Admirable in development and clear in principles, and especially felicitous in 
illustration from familiar subjects."— Monthly Mag. 



OUTLINES OF HISTORY, from the earliest period to the 
present time. 



A TREATISE ON HYDROSTATICS AND PNEUMATICS. 
By the Rev. D. Lardner. With numerous engravings. 

" It fully sustains the favorable opinion we have already expressed as to this 
valuable compendium of modern science." — Lit. Gazette. 

" Dr. Lardner has made a good use of his acquaintance with the familiar facts 
which illustrate the principles of science."— Monthly Magazine. 

"It is written with a full knowledge of the subject, and in a popuisr stvle, 
abounding in practical illustrations o'f the abstruse operations of these impor- 
tant sciences." — U- S. Journal. 



LARDNEirS CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA. 



HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Sir James Mackintosh. In 
8 Vols. Vols. 1, a and 3 published. 

"In the first volume of Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, we 
find enough to warrant the anticipations of the public, that a calm and lumin- 
ous philosophy will diffuse itself over the long narrative of our British His- 
tory." — Edinburgh Review. 

" In this volume Sir James Mackintosh fully developes those great powers, 
for the possession of which the public have long given him credit. The resurlt 
is the ablest commentary that has yet appeared in our language upon some 
of the most important circumstances of English History." — titlas. 

"Worthy in the method, style, and reflections, of the author's high reputa- 
tion. We were particularly pleased with his high vein of philosophical sen- 
timent, and his occasional survey of contemporary annals." — Nat. Gazette. 

" If talents of the highest order, long experience in politics, and years of 
application to the study of history and the collection of information, can com- 
mand superiority in a historian, Sir James Machintosh may, without reading 
this work, be said to have produced the best history of this country. A peru- 
sal of the work will prove that those who anticipated a superior production, 
have not reckoned in vain on the high qualifications of the author."— Courier. 



THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, to the Battle of 
Waterloo. By T. C. Grattan. 

" It is but justice to Mr. Grattan to say that he has executed his laborious 
task with much industry and proportionate effect. Undisngured by pompous 
nothingness, and without any of the affectation of philosophical profundity, 
his style is simple, light, and fresh— perspicuous, smooth, and harmonious." — 
La Belle Assemblee. 

" Never did work appear at a more fortunate period. The volume before us 
is a compressed but clear and impartial narrative." — Lit. Oaz. 



HISTORY OF FRANCE. By Eyre Evans Crowe. In 3 vols. 

" His history of France is worthy to figure with the works of his associates, 
the best of their day, Scott and Mackintosh." — Monthly Mag. 

" For such a task Mr. Crowe is eminently qualified. At a glance, as it were, 
his eye takes in the theatre of centuries. His style is neat, clear, and pithy; 
and his power of condensation enables him to say much, and effectively, in a 
few words, to present a distinct and perfect picture in a narrowly circum- 
scribed space."— La Belle Jlssemblee. 



HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By Sir Walter Scott. In % Vols. 

" The History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott, we do not hesitate to de- 
clare, will be, if possible, more extensively read, than the most popular work 
of fiction, by the same prolific author, and for this obvious reason : it com- 
bines much of the brilliant coloring of the Ivanhoe pictures of by-gone man- 
ners, and all the graceful facility of style and picturesqueness of description 
of his other charming romances, with a minute fidelity to the facts of history, 
and a searching scrutiny into their authenticity and relative value, which 
might put to the blush Mr. Hume and other professed historians. Such is the 
magic charm of Sir Walter Scott's pen, it has only to touch the simplest inci- 
dent of every-day life, and it starts up invested with all the interest of a scene 
of romance; and yet such is his fidelity to the text of nature, that the knights 
and serfs, and collared fools with whom his inventive genius has peopled so 
many volumes, are regarded by us as not mere creations of fancy, but as real 
flesh and blood existences, with all the virtues, feelings and errors of com- 
mon-place humanity." — Lit. Gazette. 



LARDNER S CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA. 



HISTORY of the RISE, PROGRESS, and PRESENT 
STATE of the SILK MANUFACTURE ; with numerous 
engravings. 

"It contains abundant information in every department of this interesting 
branch of human industry — in the history, culture, and manufacture of silk." — 
Monthly Magazine. 

" There is a great deal of curious information in this little volume." — Lit. Gaz. 

HISTORY of the ITALIAN REPUBLICS ; being a View of 
the Rise, Progress, and Fall of Italian Freedom. By J. C. L. 
De Sismondi. 

"The excellencies, defects, and fortunes of the governments of the Italian 
commonwealths, form a body «f the most valuable materials for political phi- 
losophy. It is time that they should be accessible to the American people, as 
they are about to be rendered in Sismondi's masterly abridgment. He has done 
for his large work, what Irving accomplished so well for his Life of Columbus." 
— National Gazette. 

HISTORY of the RISE, PROGRESS, and PRESENT 
STATE of the MANUFACTURES of PORCELAIN and 
GLASS. With numerous Wood Cuts. 

" In the design and execution of the work, the author has displayed consider- 
able judgment and skill, and has so disposed of his valuable materials as to ren- 
der the book attractive and instructive to the general class of readers." — Sat. 
Evening Post. 

" The author has, by a popular treatment, made it one of the most interesting 
books that has been issued of this series. There are, we believe, few of the 
useful arts less generally understood than those of porcelain and glass making. 
These are completely illustrated by Dr. Lardner, and the various processes of 
forming differently fashioned utensils, are fully described." 

BIOGRAPHY of BRITISH STATESMEN; containing the 
Lives of Sir Thomas More, by Sir James Mackintosh; 
Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop Cranmer, and Lord Burleigh. 

" A very delightful volume, and on a subject likely to increase in interest 
as it proceeds. * * * We cordially commend the work both for its design and 
execution." — London Lit. Gazette. 

The HISTORY of SPATN and PORTUGAL. In 5 vols. 

" A general History of the Spanish and Portuguese Peninsula, is a great de- 
sideratum in our language, and we are glad to see it begun under such favorable 
auspices. We have seldom met with a narrative which fixes attention more 
steadily, and bears the reader's mind along more pleasantly." 

"In the volumes before us, there is unquestionable evidence of capacity for 
the task, and research in the execution." — U. S. Journal. 

" Of course this work can be but an abridgment ; but we know not where so 
much ability has been shown in condensation. It is unequalled, and likely 
long to remain so. * * We were convinced, on the publication of the first vol- 
ume, that it was no common compilation, manufactured to order; we were pre- 
pared to announce it as a very valuable addition to our literature. * * * Our 
last words must be, heartily to recommend it to our readers."— Jlthenaum. 

HISTORY of SWITZERLAND. 

"Like the preceding historical numbers of this valuable publication, it 
abounds with interesting details, illustrative of the habits, character, and polit- 
ical complexion of the people and country it describes ; and affords, in the small 
space of one volume, a digest of all the important facts which, in more elaborate 
histories, occupy five times the space." — Evening Post. 



FRENCH AND SPANISH. 



BY A. IJOLMAR. 



A COLLECTION of COLLOQUIAL PHRASES on every 
Topic necessary to maintain Conversation, arranged under differ- 
ent heads, with numerous remarks on the peculiar pronunciation 
and use of various words — the whole so disposed as considerably 
to facilitate the acquisition of a correct pronunciation of the 
French. By A. Bolmar. One vol. 18mo. 

A SELECTION of ONE HUNDRED PERRIN'S FABLES, 
accompanied by a Key, containing the text, a literal and free 
translation, arranged in such a manner as to point out the differ- 
ence between the French and the English idiom, also a figured 
pronunciation of the French, according to the best French works 
extant on the subject ; the whole preceded by a short treatise on 
the sounds of the French language, compared with those of the 
English. 

Les AVENTURES de TELEMAQUE par FENELON, ac- 
companied by a Key to the first eight books ; containing like the 
Fables — the Text — a Literal — and Free Translation ; intended as 
a Sequel to the Fables. 

The expression ' figured pronunciation,' is above employed to express that the 
Words in the Key to the French Fables are spelt and divided as they are pronounced. 
It is what Walker has done in his Critical Pronouncing Dictionary ; for instance, 
he indicates the pronunciation of the word enough, by dividing- and spelling it thus, 
e-nuf. In the same mariner I indicate the pronunciation of the word comptaient 
thus, kon-te. Jls the understanding of the figured pronunciation c/ Walker re- 
quires the student to be acquainted with the primitive sounds of the English vowels, 
he must likewise, before he can understand the figured pronunciation of the French, 
make himself acquainted with the 20 primitive sounds of the French vowels. This 
any intelligent person can get from a native, or from anybody who reads French 
well, in a few hours. 

A COMPLETE TREATISE on the GENDERS of FRENCH 

NOUNS ; in a small pamphlet of fourteen pages. 

This little work, which is the most complete of the kind, is the 
fruit of great labor, and will prove of immense service to every 
learner. 

ALL THE FRENCH VERBS, both REGULAR and IR- 
REGULAR, in a small volume. 

The verbs efre to be, avoir to have, jxtrler to speak, finir to finish, recevoir 
to receive, vendre to sell, se lever to rise, se bien porter to be well, s'en alter 
to go away, are here all conjugated through — affirmatively — negatively — 
interrogatively — and negatively and interrogatively — an arrangement which 
will greatly facilitate the scholar in his learning the French verbs, and 
which will save the master the trouble of explaining over and over again 
what may be much more easily learned from books, thus leaving him more 
time to give his pupil, during the lesson, that instruction which cannot be 
found in books, but which must be learned from a master. 



NEUMAN'S SPANISH and ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 

New Edition, in one vol. 16mo. 



FAMILY C4BINET ATLAS. 



The FAMILY CABINET ATLAS, constructed upon an ori- 
ginal plan: Being a Companion to the Encyclopaedia Ameri- 
cana, Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Family Library, Cabinet Library, &c. 

['his Atlas comprises, in a volume of the Family Library size, nearly J00 Maps 
and Tables, which present equal to Fifty Thousand JYamc3 of Places; a body 
of information three times as extensive as that supplied by the generality of 
Quarto Atlases. 

Opinions oj the Public Journals. 

"This beautiful and most useful little volume," says the Literary Gazette, 
"is a psrfuet picture of elegance, containing a vast sum of geographical infor- 
mation. A more instructive little present, or a gift better calculated to be lomr 
preserved and often referred to, could not be offered to favored youth of either 
sex. Its cheapness, we must add, is another recommendation ; for, although 
this elegant publication contains 100 beautiful engravings, it is issued at a price 
that can be no obstacle to its being procured by every parent and friend to youth." 

" This Atlas far surpasses any thing of the kind which we have seen, and is 
made to suit the popular libraries which Dr. Lardner and Mr. Murray are now 
sending into every family in the empire."— Monthly Rcvieio. 

" Its very ingenious method of arrangement secures to the geographical stu- 
dent the information for which hitherto he has b&en obliged to resort to works 
of the largest dimensions."— Athencrum. 

" This miniature and beautiful Atlas is likely to supersede, for general pur- 
poses, maps of a more expensive and elaborate character. It appears to us to 
answer the double purpose of exercising the attention, while it imprints all that 
is important in Geography on the memory." — Atlas. 

" The workmanship is among the best of the kind we have ever witnessed."— 
Examiner. 

" It contains all the information to be derived from the most expensive and 
unwieldy Atlas."— York Gourant. 

HISTORY OF THE REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND, IN 

1688 : comprising a View of the Reign of James II., from his 
accession, to the Enterprise of the Prince of Orange. By the 
late Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh. And completed to 
the Settlement of the Crown, by the Editor. To which is pre- 
fixed, a Notice of the Life, Writings, and Speeches of Sir 
James Mackintosh. In 1 vol. 8vo. 

"We are at length gratified by the appearance of this long-looked for work 
from the pen of*Sir James Mackintosh. Highly gifted by nature, deeply read, 
and singularly accomplished, the view of one of the most memorable epochs in 
English history could not have been undertaken by any man of a capacity to do 
it justice in every respect, superior to this eminent individual."— Lit. Gazette. 

"In every page we perceive the anxiety of the historian to hold the ba- 
lance of justice with unfaltering hand, and to watch its slightest vibrations." 
— AthencBum. 

"The Sequel is highly honourable to the industry and talents of its author; 
and the Prefatory Memoir is very well written. Altogether, the volume 
possesses a sterling character, too rare at this period of evanescent publica- 
tions." — Lit. Gazette. 

LTFE OF THE REV. GEORGE CRABBE, LL.B., with his 
Letters and Journals, together with his Posthumous Poems. 
Edited by his Son. In 2 neat volumes. 



EDUCATION. 



A TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY. By Sir John F. W. Her- 
schel. In 1 vol. 12mo. 

An ELEMENTARY TREATISE on ALGEBRA, Theoretical 
and Practical ; with attempts to simplify some of the more 
difficult parts of the science, particularly the demonstration of 
the Binomial Theorem, in its most general form ; the Solution 
of Equations of the higher orders ; the Summation of Infinite 
Series, &c. By J. R. Young. First American edition, with 
Additions and Improvements, by Samuel Ward, Jun. 8vo. 

"A new and ingenious general method of solving Equations has been recently 
discovered by Messrs. H. Atkinson, Holdred, and Horner, independently of each 
other. For the best practical view of this new method and its applications, 
consult the Elementary Treatise on Algebra, by Mr. J. R. Young, a work which 
deserves our cordial recommendation." — Dr. Gregory's edition of Button's Mathe- 
matics. 

" For the summation of Infinite Series the author gives a new and ingenious 
method, which is very easy and extensive in its application." — Newcastle Mag. 

By the same Author. 
ELEMENTS of GEOMETRY ; containing- a new and universal 
Treatise on the Doctrine of Proportions, together with Notes, 
in which are pointed out and corrected several important errors 
that have hitherto remained unnoticed in the writings of Ge- 
ometers. Also, an Examination of the various Theories of Paral- 
lel Lines that have been proposed by Legendre, Bertrand, Ivory, 
Leslie, and others. 

" His observations on the theory of parallel lines, the labor he has bestowed 
on the doctrines of proportion, as well as his corrections of many errors of pre- 
ceding Geometers, and supplying their defects, together with his minute attention 
to accuracy throughout, may be justly considered as rendering his performance 
valuable, especially to the learner." — Philosophical Magazine. 

" We have never seen a work so free from pretension and of such great merit. 
Various fallacies latent in the reasoning of some celebrated mathematicians, 
both of anci.mt and modern date, are pointed out and discussed in a tone of calm 
moderation, which we regret to say is not always employed in the scientific 
world." — Monthly Magazine. 

"This is a work of valuable information, the conception of a most enlightened 
mind, and executed with a simplicity which cannot but carry the important truth 
it speaks of home to the conviction of every understanding."— Weekly Times. 

The ELEMENTS of ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY ; compre- 
hending the Doctrine of the Conic Sections, and the General 
Theory of Curves and Surfaces of the second order, with a 
variety of local Problems on Lines and Surfaces. Intended for 
the use of Mathematical Students in Schools and Universities. 

" If works like the present be introduced generally into our schools and col- 
leges, the continent wiil not long boast of its immense superiority over the 
country of Newton, in every branch of modern analytical science." — Atlas. 

ELEMENTS of PLANE and SPHERICAL TRIGONOME- 
TRY, comprehending the Theory of Navigation and of Nautical 
Astronomy. 

ELEMENTS of MECHANICS, comprehending Statics and 
Dynamics. 



New "Works, published by Carey, Lea, & Blanch ard. 



BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. 



This series of Treatises is published under the following circum- 
stances: — 

The Right Honorable and Rev. Franci3 Henry, Earl of Bridge- 
water, died in the month of February, 1825 ; he directed certain trus- 
tees therein named, to invest in the public funds, the sum of eight 
thousand pounds sterling; this sum, with the accruing dividends 
thereon, to be held at the disposal of the President, for the time being, 
of the Royal Society of London, to be paid to the person or persons 
nominated by him. The Testator farther directed, that the person or 
persons selected by the said President, should be appointed to write, 
print and publish one thousand copies of a work, on the Power, Wis- 
dom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation ; illustra- 
ting such work, by all reasonable arguments, as, for instance, the va- 
riety and formation of God's creatures in the Animal, Vegetable, and 
Mineral Kingdoms ; the effect of digestion, and, thereby, of conver- 
sion ; the construction of the hand of man, and an infinite variety of 
other arguments ; as also by discoveries, ancient and modern, in arts, 
sciences, and the whole extent of literature. 

He desired, moreover, that the profits arising from the sale of the 
works so published, should be paid to the authors of the works. 

The late President of the Royal Society, Da vies Gilbert, Esq. re- 
quested the assistance of his Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
and of the Bishop of London, in determining upon the best mode of 
carrying into effect, the intentions of the Testator. Acting with their 
advice, and with the concurrence of a nobleman immediately connect- 
ed with the deceased, Mr. Davies Gilbert appointed the following eight 
gentlemen to write separate Treatises in the different branches of the 
subjects here stated: — 

I. The Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellec- 
tual Constitution of Man, by the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D., Pro- 
fessor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. 

II. The adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Condition 
of Man, by John Kidd, M. D., F. R. S., Regius Professor of Medicine 
in the University of Oxford. 

III. Astronomy and General Physics, considered with reference to 
Natural Theology, by the Rev. Wm. Whewell, M. A., F. R. S., Fel- 
low of Trinity College, Cambridge. 

IV. The hand : its mechanism and vital endowments as evincing 
design, by Sir Charles Bell, K. H, F. R. S. 

V. Animal and Vegetable Physiology, by Peter Mark Roget, M. D., 
Fellow of and Secretary to the Royal Society. 

VI. Geology and Mineralogy, by the Rev. Wm. Buckland, D. D., 
F. R. S., Canon of Christ Church, and Professor of Goology in the 
University of Oxford. 

VII. The History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals, by the Rev. 
Wm. Kirby, M. A., F. R. S. 



New Works, published Toy Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. 



BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. 



VIII. Chemistry, Meteorology, and the Function of Digestion, by 
Wm. Prout, M.D..F.R.S. 

THE FOLLOWING ARE PUBLISHED. 

ASTRONOMY AND GENERAL PHYSICS, considered with 
reference to Natural Theology. By the Rev. William Whe- 
well, M. A., Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge ; being Part III. of the Bridgewater Treatises on the 
Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the 
Creation. In one vol. 12mo. 

" It is a work of profound investigation, deep research, distinguished alike 
for the cairn Christian spirit which breathes throughout, and the sound, irre- 
sistible argumentation which is stamped on every page." — Daily Intelli- 
gencer. 

" Let works like that before us be widely disseminated, and the bold, active, 
and ingenious enemies of religion be met by those, equally sagacious, alert and 
resolute and the most timid of the many who depend upon the few, need not 
fear the host that comes with subtle steps to 'steal their faith away.' "— JV. Y. 
American. 

" That the devoted spirit of the work is most exemplary, that we have here 
and there found, or fancied, room for cavil, only poradventure because we have 
been unable to follow the author through the prodigious range of his philo- 
sophical survey — and in a word, that the work before us would have made the 
reputation of any other man, and may well maintain even that of Professor 
Whewell." — Metropolitan. 

" He has succeeded admirably in laying a broad foundation, in the light of 
nature, for the reception of the more glorious truths of revelation ; and has 
produced a work well calculated to dissipate the delusions of scepticism and 
infidelity, and to confirm the believer in his faith." — Charleston Courier. 

" The known talents, and high reputation of the author, gave an earnest of 
excellence, and nobly has Mr. Whewell redeemed the pledge. — In conclusion, 
«ve have no hesitation in saying, that the present is one of the best works of 
its kind, and admirably adapted to the end proposed; as such, we cordially 
recommend it to our readers." — London Lit. Gazette. 

" It is a work of high character." — Boston Recorder. 

A TREATISE ON THE ADAPTATION OF EXTERNAL 
NATURE TO THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MAN, 

principally with reference to the supply of his wants, and the 
exercise of his intellectual faculties. By John Kidd, M. D., 
F. R. S., Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of 
Oxford ; being Part II. of the Bridgewater Treatises on the 
Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the 
Creation. In one vol. 12mo. 

" It is ably written, and replete both with interest and instruction. The 
diffusion of such works cannot fail to be attended with the happiest effects in 
justifying 'the ways of God to man,' and illustrating the wisdom and good- 
ness of the Creator by arguments which appeal irresistably both to the reason 
and the feelings. Few can understand abstract reasoning, and still fewer rel- 
ish it, or will listen to it : but in this work the purest morality and the kindli- 
est feelings are inculcated through the medium of agreeable and useful infor- 
mation." — Bait. Gaz. 

" It should be in the hands of every individual who feels disposed to ' vindi- 
cate the ways of God to man.' "— JV. Y. Com. Adv. 



New Works, published by Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. 



BRIDGEWATER TREATISES. 

CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, AND THE FUNCTIONS 
OF DIGESTION, considered with reference to Natural The- 
ology, by William Prout, M. D. F. R. S., Fellow of the Royal 
College of Physicians, being part eight of -the Bridgewater 
Treatises on the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as 
manifested in the Creation. In 1 vol. 12mo. 
" For depth of investigation, extent of research and cogency of reasoning, 
this work will not suffer in comparison with any other of this admirable 
series. The deductions from the premises are strong and conclusive, and 
bear the impress of a calm, philosophic, and truly Christian spirit. The 
valuable scientific knowledge that may be derived from the Bridgewater 
Treatises, independent of their grand design — the illustration of the power, 
wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the creation — should secure 
them a wide circulation." — Bait. Gazette. 

ON THE ADAPTATION OF EXTERNAL NATURE TO 
THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONSTITUTION 
OF MAN. By the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D. D. ; being 
Part I. of the Bridgewater Treatises on the Power, Wisdom, 
and Goodness of God, as manifested in Creation. In 1 vol. 12mo. 

" The volumes before us are every way worthy of their subject. Jt 
would seem almost supererogatory to pass any judgment on the style of a 
writer so celebrated as Dr. Chalmers. He is well known as a logician not 
to be baffled by any difficulties ; as one who boldly grapples with his theme, 
and brings every energy of his clear and nervous intellect into the field. 
JNo sophistry escapes his eagle vision — no argument that could either 
enforce or illustrate his subject is left untouched. Our literature owes a 
deep debt of gratitude to the author of these admirable volumes." — Lit. Gaz. 

THE HAND: ITS MECHANISM AND VITAL ENDOW- 
MENTS, AS EVINCING DESIGN. By Sir Charles 
Bell, K. G. II. ; being Part IV. of the Bridgewater Treatises 
on the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested 
in the Creation. In one vol. 12mo. 

"In the present treatise it is a matter of the warmest satisfaction to find 
an anatomist of Sir Charles Bell's great eminence, professing his contempt 
for the late fashionable doctrines of materialism held by so many anato- 
mists, and now coming forward to present the fruits of his wide researches 
and great ability in a treatise so full of curious and interesting matter, 
expressly intended to prove, by the examination of one particular point, 
that design which is imprest on all parts of various animals which in some 
degree answer the purpose of the Hand ; and has shown that the hand is 
not the source of contrivance, nor consequently of man's superiority, as 
some materialists have maintained. 

" To this he has added some very valuable remarks, showing the uses of 
Pain, and he has illustrated the work with a variety of the most admirable 
and interesting wood cuts." — British Magazine. 

ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, considered with 
reference to Natural Theology. By Peter Mark Roget, M. D. Being 
Treatise five of the Bridgewater Series : illustrated with numerous 



New Works, published toy Carey, L.ea, & Blanchard* 



THE PREMIUM, 

A PRESENT FOR ALL SEASONS : 

Consisting of elegant selections from British and American 
writers of the 19th century. In one small neat volume, ele- 
gantly bound in morocco ; with engravings, by Ellis, from de- 
signs by Westall and Richter. 

This work particularly commends itself to school teachers, pa- 
rents, and others, who may be in search of a volume to pre- 
sent to either sex. 

" A delightful little bouquet of ' elegant extracts,' from the best writers of 
prose and poetry in Great Britain and America. The premiums would be a 
pretty present for young ladies, or students, emulous te be noticed or reward- 
ed." — Sentinel. 

" It is a collection, or rather let us say, a selection of pieces in prose and 
verse, that have real merit, with reference both to style and sentiment. They 
are choice, and will be useful to improve the taste and strengthen the morals. 
The author has done a good work, and those who wish to give the most de- 
serving a beautiful and a useful ' premium,' will find the work to which we 
refer altogether suitable." — U. 8. Gazette. 

" Carey, Lea &; Blanchard have given us a choice selection of gems, from 
the best popular writers of the day, under the above title. It contains arti- 
cles from the pens of Croley, Wilson, Byron, Mary Howitt, Mrs. Hemans, 
Moore, Hood, Dr. Bird, Campbell, Manning, Irving, Webster, Sprague, Brain- 
ing, Percival, &c. The volume is a pleasant one, and the selections such as 
their respective authors have no need to be ashamed of."— JV*. Y. Com. Adver- 
tiser. 

" This is a neat volume composed of extracts from the celebrated writers of 
the present century. The selections are admirably made, and the work is 
got up with unusual elegance. The binding is a beautiful specimen of the 
skill which has been attained in this important department of book-making. 
Tbe volume is one of rare beauty, and constitutes a cheap, elegant, and ap- 
propriate present." — Daily Intelligencer. 

" A very neat and instructive present for youth at all seasons."— Nat. Oaz. 



A TREATISE ON ASTRONOMY. 

BY SIR JOHN F. W. IIERSCHEL, F. R. S. &C. 

In 1 vol. 12mo. 

"The present treatise is in no wise inferior to its predecessor: it is charac- 
terized by the same agreeable and elegant style, the same facility of illustra- 
tion — added to which it possesses unrivalled precision and accuracy of de- 
monstration. Avoiding, therefore, the abstruse niceties and the transcendental 
mathematics of the subject, the author has nevertheless produced a volume 
calculated, we are fully persuaded, to impress upon his readers the magnitude 
and importance of the science, and to initiate them in no mean degree into 
its mysteries." — Lit. Gazette. 



$&moiv8 of tilt <&ouvt 

OF KING CHARLES THE FIRST. 
By Lucy Aikin. In Two Volumes, 8vo. 



EDUCATION. 

A New Abridgement of AINSWORTH'S DICTIONARY, 
English and Latin, for the use of Grammar Schools. By 
John Dymock, LL. D., with Notes, by Charles Anthon. 
1 vol. 18mo. 

In this edition are introduced several alterations and improvements, for the 
special purpose of facilitating the labor and increasing the knowledge of the 
young scholar. 

GREEK and ENGLISH LEXICON. By D. Donnegan. Abridged 
for the use of Schools. In 1 vol. royal 18mo., containing above 
800 pages. 

This work is printed on a handsome distinct type, and contains as much 
matter as many of the larger lexicons; but owing to the form in which it is 
printed, it is sold at such price as to be within the reach of all students. It 
offers more advantages to the young student than any other lexicon now in use. 
The vocabulary is more extensive and complete — comprising not only wo*rds 
found in the classics, but also such as are found in the writings of Hippocrates 
and the Greek physicians. The meanings attached to words by the several 
writers are also given. 

Words are given in alphabetical order in every poetical and dialectic variety. 

The conjugation of verbs and flection of nouns are more complete than in 
other lexicons;— the meanings of words fuller and more correct— there being 
first a primary and then a secondary meaning, each distinguished from the 
metaphorical and idiomalical. Phrases are also given when they note any 
peculiarity in signification. The etymology of words is only omitted where it is 
confused or disputed. There is nothing left out which the young student would 
find necessary in studying the classics, and which would enable him to under- 
stand the true meaning of a word. In short, in this work the essential advan- 
tages of a good Dictionary are combined with those of a good Grammar — advan- 
tages not found in any Greek and English lexicon how used. 

ELEMENTS of MECHANICS. By James Renwick, Esq., 
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Columbia 
College, N. Y. In 8vo. with numerous Engravings. 

"We think this decidedly the best treatise on Mechanics, which has issued 
from the American press, that we have seen ; one, too, that is alike creditable to 
the writer, and to the state of science in this country." — American Quarterly Rev. 

ELEMENTS of OPTICS. By David Brewster. First Amer- 
ican edition, with Notes and Additions, by A. D. Bache, Pro- 
fessor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the University 
of Pennsylvania. 18mo. 

" The author has given proof of his well-known industry, and extensive ac- 
quaintance with the results of science in every part of Europe." — Monthly Mag. 
" The subject is, as might be expected, ably treated, and clearly illustrated." — 
U. S. Jour. 

A TREATISE on HYDROSTATICS and PNEUMATICS. 
By the Rev. Dionysius Lardner, LL. D. F. R. S. &c. First 
American from the first London edition, with Notes by Ben- 
jamin F. Joslin, M. D., Professor of Natural Philosophy in Union 
College. 

" It fully sustains the favorable opinion we have already expressed as to this 
valuable compendium of modern science." — Lit. Oaz. 

"Dr. Lardner has made a good use of his acquaintance with the familiar facts 
which illustrate the principles of science."— Monthly Mag. 

" Ii is written with a full knowledge of the subject, and in a popular style, 
abounding in practical illustrations of the abstruse operations of these im- 
portant sciences." — U. S. Jour. 



EDUCATION 



LESSONS on THINGS, intended to improve Children in the 
Practice of Observation, Reflection, and Description, on the Sys- 
tem of Pestalozzi, edited by John Frost, A. M. 

The publishers request the attention of Teachers, School Com- 
mittees, and all who are desirous of improving- the methods of in- 
struction, to this work, which is on a plan hitherto unattempted 
by any school-book in this country, and which has been attended 
with extraordinary success in England. 

The following- remarks on the work are extracted from the 
" Quarterly Journal of Education." 

" This little volume is a ' corrected and re-corrected' edition of lessons actual- 
ly given to children, and, therefore, possesses a value to which no book made in 
the closet can lay claim, being the result of actual experiment. The work con- 
sists of a number of lessons, divided into five series: beginning with subjects 
the most easy and elementary, it gradually increases in difficulty, each succes- 
sive step being adapted to the mind of the child as it acquires fresh stores of 
knowledge. 

" Every part of these lessons is interesting to the child, both on account of the 
active operation into which his own mind is necessarily called by the manner in 
which the lessons are given ; and also by the attractive nature of many of the 
materials which form the subject of the lessons. In the first and most, elementa- 
ry series, the pupil is simply taught to make a right use of his organs of sense, 
and to exercise his judgment so far only as relates to the objects about him ; and 
accordingly the matter brought before him at this stage, is such that its obvious 
properties can be discovered and described by a child who has acquired a tolera- 
ble knowledge of his mother tongue." 

ELEMENTS of the INTEGRAL CALCULUS; with its 
Applications to Geometry, and to the Summation of Infinite 
Series, &c. Revised and corrected by Michael O'Shan- 
nessy, A. M. 1 vol. 8vo. 

" The volume before us forms the third of an analytical course, which com- 
mences with the 'Elements of Analytical Geometry.' More elegant text- 
books do not exist in the English language, and we trust they will speedily be 
adopted in our Mathematical Seminaries. The existence of such auxiliaries 
will, of itself, we hope, prove an inducement to the cultivation of Analytical 
Science; for, to the want of such elementary works, the indifference hitherto 
manifested in this country on the subject is, we apprehend, chiefly to be as- 
cribed. Mr. Young has brought the science within the reach of every intelli- 
gent student, and, in so doing, has contributed to the advancement of mathe- 
matical learning in Great Britain." — Presbyterian Rcvie?o, January, 1832. 

ELEMENTS of the DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS ; com- 
prehending the General Theory of Curve Surfaces, and of 
Curves of Double Curvature. Revised and corrected by 
Michael O'Shannessy, A. M. 1 vol. 8vo. 

" The whole Elements of the Differential Calculus, comprehending all that 
is most valuable in the large works of the most celebrated Analysts, are con 
tamed in one volume, beautifully printed on a fine paper, and neatly bound 
in cloth. It appears to be in every respect well fitted for a Class -Book, and 
can scarcely fail to be very generally adopted "—Presbyterian Review, Sep 
tember, 183J. 



J 



New Works, published by Carey, Lea, & Blanchard. 



THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC, including notices of 
Brazil, Chili, Bolivia, and Peru. In one vol. By an Offi- 
cer of the United States' Navy. 

" The work embraces copious descriptions of the countries visited ; graphic 
accounts of the state of society ; brief notices of the history, state of the 
arts, climate, and the future prospects of those interesting parts of our conti- 
nent ; respecting which the citizens of the United States are supposed to 
care much, but know so little." 

"Full of novelty and valuable details. The American reader will greatly 
add to his fund of ideas concerning South America by its perusal." — Chronicle. 

"The author's graphic abilities — the pure acquaintance he displays with 
the Spanish language, renders his book at once pleasing and useful." — Gaz. 

" Such contributions to our stock of ideas and literature, deserve a warmer 
welcome and wider patronage than the common-place or extravagant fictions 
of the day." — National Gazette. 

"Much new and valuable information, imbodied in excellent language; 
there cannot be a moment's doubt of its popularity." — Jour, of Belles Letlres. 

LETTERS ON THE UNITED STATES. Letters to a Gen- 
tleman in Germany, written after a trip from Philadelphia 
to Niagara, edited by Dr. Francis Lieber, in one vol. 8vo. 

" The mingling of anecdote, the abrupt breaks, personal narration, illustrative 
comparisons^ and general style of the work, give it an interest that will ensure 
to the book general perusal — while the philosophical tone which occasionally 
pervades its pages cannot fail of commending them to the approval of the 
reflecting." — U. S. Gazette. 

"We have read this work with great satisfaction and interest. It abounds 
with characteristic anecdotes, graphic descriptions, and principles which do 
honour to the head and heart of the author." — Nat. Intelligencer. 

The style of these Letters is, in general, very good; sometimes poetical and 
eloquent. 

"Here is a well written series of Letters, by a learned German, who has 
lived long enough among us, it appears, to examine the peculiarities of our 
government and habits, with the impartial eye of a philosopher." — Baltimore 
paper. 

" This is a very agreeable book— rambling, sprightly, anecdotical, and withal, 
interspersed with much useful and practical information, and keen and accurate 
observation." — Neio York American. 

SKETCHES OF SOC1VETY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND 
IRELAND. By C. S. Stewart, M. A., Chaplain of the 
United States' Navy, author of" A Visit to the South Seas," 
« A Residence in the Sandwich Islands," &c. In two vols. 
12mo. 

" Some of his sketches are beautiful descriptions ; others are finished pictures. 
The charm of these volumes consists in the distinct view which the author 
gives us of the scenery, the country, the cities and towns, the aristocracy, the 
churches, — in one word, the thousand particulars, which, together, constitute 
what is called the state^of society." — Religious Telegraph. 

" We have seldom perused a work with so pleasant an interest. The contents 
are various and racy, epistolary transcripts of the author's mind, published just 
as written, without revisions, and with all the gloss and freshness of first and 
original impressions about them. The work is full of living pictures." 

" His observations on men and manners, in his description of the different 
scenes to which his pilgrimage was extended, are given in a style of the most 
flowing and attractive kind." — JV. Y. Courier. 

THIRTY YEARS' CORRESPONDENCE, between John 
Jebb, D. D. F. R. S., Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert, and 
Aghadoe ; and Alexander Knox, Esq., M. R. I. A. Edited 
by the Rev. Charles Forster, B. D., perpetual curate of Ash 
next Sandwich; formerly, domestic Chaplain to Bishop 
Jebb. In two vols. 8vo. 



